Judgements by health professionals of personal characteristics of people with a visible physical disability

Discussion within rehabilitation literature suggests that visible disability is a cue which influences impressions that others form of a person. These impressions extend to include personality and social characteristics that have no necessary relationship with the disability. Evidence of such "spread" of judgement has emerged in studies with health professionals and raises concern for the quality and appropriateness of their interactions with clients with disabilities. This article incorporates the feature of disability within the wider context of implicit personality theory by exploring its effects on impression formation in conjunction with the effects of gender and manner of behaviour. A sample of 636 trainee and practising health professionals made Semantic Differential ratings of a job applicant observed in a videotaped interview. Twelve parallel videos were produced in which disability (use of a wheelchair), gender, and manner of behaviour (shy-neutral-brash) of the applicant were varied. Analyses of variance revealed significant main effects for each independent variable. Interaction effects were limited. Further study of Semantic Differential ratings indicated that respondents devalued the disabled applicants, with presence of wheelchair influencing judgements about social and psychological adjustment and about general competence and capability. Reasons posited for these findings include the nature of health professional-client relationship and occupation-related experience. A disability awareness package is described which is aimed at health professionals and service providers and which is designed to address negative attitudes by providing accurate information and personal contact with people with disabilities.