This document discusses communication between people with disabilities and those without disabilities. It aims to highlight gaps in how the two groups communicate by framing them as different cultures. The author conducted interviews and found that stereotyping of people with disabilities and uncertainty in communication are major issues that hinder interaction. The findings help identify key challenges to improve understanding between the groups and foster more comfortable communication.

1. “WHICH IS MY GOOD
LEG?”
Cultural Communication of Persons with
Disabilities

2. What is this study about and
why?
 “Which is My Good Leg” attempts to bring to
light the gap in communication between
persons with disabilities and those without.
 It calls the audience to see the two groups as
different cultures which apply different modes
of communication.
 The purpose is to show how the two cultures
can communicate more effectively.

3. What does the author do to study
this?
 Identifies communication problems between
the two cultures
 Evaluates the weakness of previous studies of
the same topic
 Researches through interviews
 Discusses what students and scholars can do
to change the discomfort many feel while
communicating with the other culture

4. What did the author find? – major
issues
 Stereotyping of persons with disabilities
 “For example, they often perceive them as
dependent, socially introverted, emotionally
unstable, depressed, hypersensitive, and easily
offended, especially with regard to their disability. In
addition, disabled people are often presumed to differ
from nondisabled people in moral character, social
skills, and political orientation (Braithwaite, pg. 210).”
 This is harmful to people with disabilities who “want
the nondisabled person to treat them as a “person like
anyone else,” rather than focus solely on their
disability (Braithwaite, pg 211).”

5. What did the author find? – major
issues
 Uncertainty or discomfort while communicating
 Many nondisabled people are uncertain of how to
communicate with people with disabilities because of
a lack of experience.
 They don‟t know what to say or how to act and are
typically afraid of hurting the person with disabilities‟
feelings.
 The behaviors that stem from this uncertainty make
them appear to be un-accepting or uninterested in the
person with disabilities. “Wishing to act in a way
acceptable to those with disabilities, they may
unknowingly act offensively, patronizing disabled
people with unwanted sympathy (Braithwaite, pg
210).”

6. Why are those findings
important?
 If key areas of difficulty that tend to hinder
communication between the two groups are
pinpointed, it will be easier find a solution to
the problem.

7. Taking the first step towards
resolution…
 Redefining what it means to have a disability is a huge step in
smoothing communications. I love the following quote from
an interviewee focused on disability awareness:
“I will say to people, “How many of you made the clothes that
you‟re wearing?” “How many of you grew the food that you ate
yesterday?” “How many of you built the house that you live in?”
Nobody raises their hand. Then after maybe five of those, I‟ll
say, “And I bet you think you‟re independent.” And I‟ll say, “I‟ll be
you, if we could measure how independent you feel in your life
versus how independent I feel in mine, then I would rate just as
high as you do. And yet here I am „depending „ on people to get
me dressed, undressed, on and of the john, ect. It‟s all in our
heads folks. Nobody is really independent.” I can see them kind
of go “Yeah, I never thought of it that way.” and they begin to
understand how it is that somebody living with this situation can
feel independent. That independence really is a feeling and an
attitude. It‟s not a physical reality (Braithwaite, pg 214).”

8. The approach
 The authors based a lot of their research on
interviews with individuals with disabilities and the
language that is used to describe them which I see as
the “interpretive approach.”
 At the same time, the power struggle of persons with
disabilities is also very evident which shows the use of
the “critical approach” as well.
 Definitions of each:
 Interpretive: emphasizes using languages to describe
human behavior.
 Critical: analyzes the large power structures that guide
every day life
 (Martin, 2010, pg. 52)

9. Food for thought?
 Are you uncomfortable when interacting with
persons with disabilities? If so, do you try to
overcome that discomfort? How?
 In what way can we make our communities
more aware of communication practices that
would not isolate those disabilities, leading to
a more comfortable interaction for all?

10. Reference
 Braithwaite, Dawn &
Braithwaite, Charles.(2009). "Which is My
Good Leg?" In L. A. Samovar, R. E. Porter, E.
R. McDaniel (Eds.), Intercultural
communication: A Reader (12th Ed.) (pp. 207-
218). Boston: Wadsworth.
 Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K.
(2010). Intercultural Communication in
Contexts, (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill.