Wheelchair Sport as a Mechanism for Altering the Perceptions of the Nondisabled Regarding Their Disabled Peers' Competence

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of participation in an instructional tennis program with physically disabled peers on the perceptions of significantly more skilled nondisabled adolescents regarding the tennis efficacy and the general, social, cognitive and physical competence of their physically disabled peers. Disabled coactors were introduced at various points throughout the learning and performance treatment stages to assess the effect of their variable presence on the perceptions ofthe nondisabled subjects. Results revealed that early integration ofthe sport context with disabled and nondisabled peers who are characterized by significantly different levels of ability, can be detrimental to the nondisabled subject's perceptions regarding the sport-specific competence of their disabled peers. A directional trend was found which supports the contention that improving the nondisabled subjects' perceptions ofthe sport-specific efficacy oftheir disabled peers may enhance their perceptions of their disabled peers' general physical competence. However, this relationship was not statistically significant. Also, the confounding use of a proficient adult wheelchair tennis instructor in the homogeneous learning sessions requires that future studies be carried out to corroborate these findings.