Paper presented at International Conference on Dis/Ability Communication (ICDC 2017): Perspectives and Challenges of 21st Century, 9-11 January 2017 organised by Department of Communication and Journalism (DCJ), University of Mumbai, in collaboration with AYJNISHD(D), Bandra, Mumbai, India and the research group CCD, Communication, Culture & Diversity, Jönköping University, Sweden

1. Perception and Experiences of
Disability amongst Able-bodied
Postgraduate students:
A Sample Survey
Mira K Desai
Associate Professor and HOD-Additional Charge,
Department of Extension Education
SNDT Women’s University, Juhu Campus,
Mumbai

2. Assumptions
• Mainstreaming disability demands
contribution of able-bodies people.
• ‘Disability’ is an ‘experience’ and if a person
has experienced it, it would increase chances
for integration of ‘normal’ people with people
with dis/ability.
• Perceptions and opinions of able-bodied
people will impact how persons with disability
become part of society.

3. objectives
• to understand ‘experience’ and ‘perception’ of
‘disability’ among able-bodied people.
• To know the understanding about the concept
of ‘disability’ and disabled people among able-
bodied people.
• To know perceptions and opinions of able-
bodied people about disability and disabled.

4. Methodology
• Method: Sample Survey
• Sampling: Incidental
• Sample: PG Students of SNDTU
• Sample Size: 50
• Tool: Questionnaire
• Data Analysis: Percentages and
Dispersion

5. Sample Profile
• Subject Backgrounds: Media, Clinical
Nutrition, Human Development, Early
Childhood Education, Women’s Studies,
Extension Education, Food Science & Nutrition.
• Family background: Half of students had highly
qualified parents, majority having homemaker
mothers and working/businessman fathers.
• Born at 21 different geographical locations
from West, North and East of India.

6. Understanding about Dis/Ability
• Recurrent words: ability-inability, normal-
abnormal, participation-impairment-performance
and words like quality, attributes, abnormality,
defect.......
• Some of the students had more complex
understanding like ‘gifted children’, ‘different
abilities’, ‘mental state’, ‘participation limitation’,
‘different from set standards of the society’.
• No accurate understanding of volume of disabled
population, geography, nature or type of disability

7. Experiences about Dis/Ability
• Visually impaired people were ‘experienced’ most by
56 percent students, half of them had dealt with
physically impaired and 42 percent had interacted
with people with ‘special needs’.
• Only one forth (24%) reported to have ‘ever felt
disabled about themselves’ majority (76 %) never
experienced disabled about them ‘self’.
• Only four out of ten students reported to have dealt
with persons with disability either at home or at
school/college.
• Eight out of ten students had helped person with
disability whereas one fifth reported that they had
never helped anyone with disability.

8. Perceptions & Opinions
• Half of the students reported that they feel
‘sad’ about disabled and 14 percent stated
feeling of ‘nothing’ about them.
• One fourth of the students do not want
society with disabled persons wherein rest
accept that it is ‘not possible’.
• Four in ten students feel disability is difficult
to overcome.

9. Visibility of Disability
• Majority (62%) stated that they were not aware
about persons with disability.
• Four in ten students reported about disabled
people having achieved ‘something’ and most
interestingly half of them referred to ‘personal
contacts’ yet one forth gave ‘generic’ references .
• Social media is helping spread awareness as
those knowing about achievers, came to know
about them online.

10. Main Findings
• Majority of the postgraduate women students
had not experienced ‘disability’ and even large
majority had no first-hand experience of dealing
with people with disability.
• Large majority had helped people with disability
occasionally mostly in public sphere for tasks like
crossing road, filling up forms, writing class notes,
helping complete small tasks.
• Students perceive it as an undesirable, sad.

11. Interlinked REALITY
Perception
EXPERIENCE
Opinion

12. Construction of Disability Reality
Distorted
Perception
Lack of
EXPERIENCE
Not so Positive
Opinion

13. Recommendations
• Interpersonal sources are most effective and
accurate for disability experience for able-
bodied people.
• It is necessary to orient, intern, stay with,
assist person with disability to experience
disability.
• For disability sensitization, able-bodied people
should be ‘exposed’ to disability conditions.
• Sensitization is key to communication.