A Comparative Study of Marital, Social And Economic Barriers Faced By The Married Couples With And Without Disabilities

Abstract

This research study was carried out to compare the marital, social and economic barriers faced by the married couples with and without disabilities. Women and men with disabilities have different life experiences due to biological, psychological, economic, social, political and cultural attributes. These gender differences are reflected in the life experiences of men and women with disabilities. Causal comparative method was used to explore and compare the marital problems of persons with and without disabilities. All the special need and normal parents of special students in special education centres in six districts in Gujranwala Division were the population for this study. Stratified sampling technique was used to select a sample of 252 persons, who were placed equally (126 persons) in two groups; persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities. A questionnaire containing 31 items into three sections (i) Marital Problem Questionnaire (MPQ), (ii) Social Problem Questionnaire (SPQ) & (iii) Economic Problem Questionnaire (EPQ) was developed to collect the data. The questionnaire yielded a reliability value of .80. T-test, ANOVA and regression were applied to draw the results. The comparative analysis showed significant difference between social problems of disable and non-disable males but there is no distinction of ability and disability in social problems of women. The study concludes that couples with and without disabilities have great difference in their life style and disability creates hurdles in their way to live a better life. Social and economic barriers increase the problems of marital life of couples with special needs.