Physical Disability and Interpersonal Perception

Abstract

This study investigated whether individuals with severe physical handicaps see themselves and ochers differently than do individuals who are physically normal. The present study compared self and interpersonal perceptions of orthopedically disabled and non-disabled subjects (5s) as well as long-term and short-term disabled persons. Subjects.-30 orthopedically disabled, and a like number of non-disabled college students were matched for age and grade-point average. The disabled Ss, mostly individuals who had suffered from poliomyelitis, ranged in age from 18 to 36 yr., and had been disabled from 3 to 26 yr. (mean of 10.10) at the time of testing. Tests.-Each S described himself, his ideal self, and the most and the least preferred co-worker he had ever had. These descriptions were made on a 24-item, 6-point scale which contained bipolar items such as friendlyunfriendly, cooperative-uncooperative. Two scores were obtained. The first was a self-satisfaction score based on the discrepancy between self- and ideal-self descriptions. This score has been ~~sed as a measure of personal adjustment (2, 3). It indicates how satisfied S is with himself, i.e., how similar he is to how he would ideally like to be. The second score, based on descriptions of most and least preferred co-workers, is called Assumed Similarity between Opposites (ASo) and has been extensively used in studies of group effectiveness. On the basis of previous work (I), it is interpreted as an index of perceived psychological distance. Results.-Disabled and conuol Ss differed neither in self-satisfaction nor in ASo scores. However, Ss who had been disabled for relatively shorcer time tended to be less self-satisfied (Rho = .40, p > .05). Length of disability was also correlated wich Assumed Similarity between Opposites (Rho = .65, P > .Ol). Discussion.-The findings of this study indicate that disabled individuals, as a group, do not differ from non-disabled persons in their perceptions of themselves and their perceptions of most and least preferred co-workers. However, the more recently disabled individuals appear to be less well satisfied with themselves than are persons who have been disabled for longer periods of time, i.e., the latter appear to be becter adjusted to their disability. Similarly, we find that persons wich long-standing disability have higher ASo scores than do those with disabiliry of more recent origin. In line with previous work, Yhis study was supported in pan by U. S. Public Health Service Grant M-1774. We are indebted to Dr. E. B. Hutchins who collecred some of the data for this investigation.