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Article Summary

Name

GMGT 2010

A01

Name

17/May/2021

The article “Viewing Persons with Disabilities as a Culture” by Dawn Braithwaite talks about the effect of communication between the disabled and abled individuals’ relationship. This has been defined as cultural communication. Health communication has developed an increasing interest among scholars; this has driven them to research the communication between disabled and non-disabled individuals. Statistically, approximately 7 percent of disabled people in most states constitute the most significant percentage of the minority groups in a society. Several factors have accounted for the growth in the number of disabled people in the community. The most important reason for this increase is advanced age. As people age and grow, they develop disabilities, with most people being sent to nursing homes. Secondly, technological advancement has contributed to the increase in the number of disabled people in the community. This is because of enhanced medical care for people with severe injuries; thus, many survive injuries.

Previously, people abled differently were hidden from the public. However, there have been several legislations passed concerning the wellbeing and equality of disabled people. Since we all interact and encounter disabled people, it is essential to develop cultural communication between non-disabled individuals. This means that non-disabled people should recognize that the disabled have specific communication features that they do not possess. This stereotypical communication issue heightens when disabled people interact with other people, and each party acts in a less spontaneous and more constrained manner. Besides, both parties should act self-controlled, rigid, and self-conscious with uncertainty and discomfort. Even though non-disabled individuals might communicate verbal comfortability, their non-verbal cues might suggest discomfort, avoidance, or constraint. This will block the normal relationship between both parties.

According to studies about communication between disabled and non-disabled individuals, the following issues affect this communication. First, there is little information about the communication of people abled differently. Secondly, disabled people are not involved in research in terms of interviews. There is little representation of disabled people in research; therefore, there is a lack of first-hand information from their type. Thirdly, studies are conducted from the view of abled people. This is referred to as ethnocentric bias. However, this study discusses undergoing research to obtain people's opinions abled differently from non-disabled individuals. A number of 57 interviews have conducted to obtain information about the communication between disabled people and other people when forming relationships.

These interviews reveal that there is a redefinition when disabled people communicate with non-disabled people. This means that while communicating with abled individuals, people abled differently experience a process where they criticize the existing stereotypes, which the former holds and come up with different definitions about people abled differently as member of a minority group, of physical disability from the dominating culture, of oneself by people abled differently, and of physical disability for people abled differently. This study justified the importance of perceiving physical disability from an intercultural view. Individuals with disabilities think of themselves as belonging to culture; thus, looking at communication among abled and disabled people highlights communication issues. A smaller percentage of the 57 individuals interviewed had little information on how their conditions would change their communication with other people. Therefore, non-disabled people should be taught how to communicate with disabled people to avoid making them feel uncomfortable.

References

Braithwaite, O. D. (1990). Viewing Persons with Disabilities as a Culture.