Exercise as stigma management for individuals with onset-controllable and onset-uncontrollable spinal cord injury.

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Studies have suggested that individuals with physical disabilities are often stigmatized and are perceived to possess less favorable physical and psychological characteristics than individuals without disability. To investigate whether able-bodied adults' perceptions of people with different causes of spinal cord injury (SCI) are influenced by physical activity status information. Each participant (N = 198) read all five vignettes describing individuals with SCI who had varying levels of physical activity participation and cause of injury information (e.g., onset-uncontrollable [hit by impaired driver] and onset-controllable [caused by impaired driving]). After reading each vignette, participants completed a 12-item Warmth and Competence Questionnaire to evaluate each target. One-way repeated measures multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to examine the within-subjects differences. Physically active individuals with onset-uncontrollable SCI were rated most favorably on warmth and competence. Physically active individuals with onset-controllable SCI also were rated more favorably on warmth and competence than physically inactive targets with onset-controllable SCI. A physically active lifestyle may be beneficial in managing the stigma experienced by individuals with both onset-controllable and onset-uncontrollable SCI.