Elizabeth Myler Source 1

Citation of source 1: Fichten, Catherine S., and Rhonda Amsel. "Trait Attributions About College Students With a Physical Disability: Circumplex Analyses and Methodological Issues." Journal of Applied Social Psychology (1986): 410-27. Web.                         

Question: How do able-bodied people typically feel when around a disabled person?

My initial thoughts on this question: Many able-bodied people do not always know how to act when around someone with a disability. At times they are conscious of everything they say because they are worried they may accidentally say something that could be taken offensively. It is often times easiest to simply avoid interaction with a disabled person. Conversation causes slight anxiety of the unknown and can feel as though it takes a lot of effort. Others may try and include their disabled friends, but are not always sure how to approach a situation in which the person cannot do the things they can.

The title of this source caught my attention first, making me want to research it. The statistics that its reasonings were based upon, as shown in the many charts throughout the piece, showed that there was some sort of basis for the author's theory, and that it was not an uninformed opinion that would lack much of a base.

Step 2:
This source discussed the stereotypes between able-bodied and disabled college students, particularly those confined to a wheelchair. Using a variety of experimental data, the author addresses that the results show the lack of ease felt between disabled and able-bodied students. Able-bodied students hold biases of disabled people, seeing them as not only different from themselves but in many ways "opposite". Studies show how able-bodied often avoid contact with disabled people partly because of the anxiety that confrontation brings. This source eventually brings forth the solution of increasing contact between disabled and able-bodied students so that they can come to see themselves as equals. The author proposes that having students work together in a group project could hopefully help the able-bodied to come to see the " disabled student’s abilities rather than his or her disabilities."

While evaluating this proposed solution, I agree with the idea of trying to help the opposing sides to see one another more equally. However, I question whether simple classroom collaboration will really change the able-bodied's view of the person with the disability. While they may be able to recognize some good attributes of the person, such as their good personality or their smart intellect, I think that the physical differences will in most, if not all, cases override the ability to think of the disabled as completely equal to the able-bodied. While they may find that they have things in common, their differences are still very obvious, and it would be hard to completely overlook these in their relationship. I think that this problem is still too complex for this solution, but I am not sure what my solution would be yet.

This source has led me to ask a few new questions:  Will the stereotypes the able-bodied have of the disabled ever allow disabled persons to really be seen as equal? What stereotypes do disabled people hold of the able-bodied? What makes disabled students feel the most "out of place" when it comes to living with their disability; is it the visible attention, the fact that they don't feel like they are able to fit in, etc? I would next like to look at the view opposite of this one evaluated in my first source, concerning the disabled student's view of able-bodied people. Once I answer this, I will then go on to ask a question that will tie the two views together and help bring me to a conclusion on what my overall opinion is.