Not All ‘Intouchables’: Variations in Humanness Perceptions between Physical and Mental Disability

Abstract

People with disabilities remain discriminated against, especially those living with mental disabilities compared to those living with physical disabilities, which might be rooted in a dehumanization process. Because there is evidence pointing to a tendency to dehumanize people with mental disabilities, the aim of this research ('N' = 559) was to demonstrate the differences in humanness attributions to people with mental and physical disabilities. The results showed that people with mental disabilities are perceived as being less human than people with physical disabilities, whether it be on blatant or subtle measures of dehumanization. More specifically, whereas dehumanization was clearly evidenced for people with mental disabilities, there was no evidence found concerning the dehumanization of people with physical disabilities. The latter were even attributed more humanness-related characteristics than people without physical disabilities. Therefore, contrasted humanness attributions between people labeled as having mental or physical disabilities should be taken into consideration if the image of people with disabilities is to change.

Keywords

• physical disability
• mental disability
• social judgments
• subtle dehumanization
• blatant dehumanization