Able‐bodied instructors and students with physical disabilities: A relationship handicapped by communication

Abstract

Although students with disabilities are not intellectually different from their able‐bodied peers, their presence in the classroom can negatively affect instructors' behavior. Many instructors are uncomfortable interacting with and offering instruction to students with disabilities. The communicative relationship between instructors and students with physical disabilities was examined using participant observation. The observations took place over six weeks and included 66 class meetings for a total of 84 hours of observations. Through these observations, four roles were identified to describe and explain how able‐bodied instructors communicate with physically disabled students: the avoider, the guardian, the rejecter, and the nurturer. Each role is described and illustrated with events that happened in classrooms. The authors conclude that able‐bodied instructors communicate differently with students with physical disabilities than with able‐bodied students. The implications of this study are discussed for instructors, able‐bodied students and students with disabilities.