DISABILITY: ITS PLACE IN THE PSYCHOLOGY CURRICULUM159data such as hat does this suggest about society views of asculine�and eminine��and ow is sexuality defined in our culture� 3. Role acquisition. Our society lacks social roles (Blauner, 1964; Merton, 1967), role models (e.g., in the media, Gillespie & Fink, 1974), and opportunities for social comparison (Strauss, 1968) for the disabled, especially for disabled women (Cook & Rossett, 1975; Fine & Asch, 1981). Students can consider how these difficulties may be similar to those experienced by many nondisabled women over the past 20 years, as they have moved away from a traditional gender role definition. It is also helpful t o contrast t h e roles disabled people actually play in society with the restricted range of models offered in the media. 4. laming the victim.�Nondisabled people may on some level blame the disabled for their disabilities, for example, regarding a disability as punishment for sins of the parents. ust world�attributions (Lerner, 1980), in which victims of rape, accidents, or illnesses are blamed for their misfortunes, are often applied to people with disabilities (Rubin & Peplau, 1975), most likely as a mechanism for distancing oneself from an awareness of one own weakness o r the possibility of 1985). An examination of these attibecoming disabled oneself (Asch & ROUSSO, tudes can help define more general attitude structures (Fenderson, 1984). Students can discuss the tendency to attribute social and economic disadvantages experienced by the disabled to an inferred biological inferiority and draw parallels to attributions about minorities and women (Asch, 1984a). 5. Social interactions with disabled people. Studies of the behavior of the nondisabled toward t h e disabled demonstrate a variety of responses that, at the very least, hinder ordinary social interaction. These include avoiding social contact and behaving in distorted ways (Asch, 1984a) and nonverbal cues such as turning away, avoiding eye contact, and ignoring their presence. In addition, certain disabilities prevent disabled people from using expected comunication cues such as articulation, eye contact, o r hand movements. Students might consider how such behaviors may affect perceptions of the disabled person and their communications. Davis (1961), Goffman (1963), and Richardson (1976) have written about the rarity of meaningful social interaction between those with disabilities and those without. 6. Altruism. People with disabilities are usually perceived as help seekers, rather than givers. The reality is that many people with disabilities need only minimal assistance and provide resources and help for others in their personal and professional lives. Students can be asked t o provide examples of helping behavior by disabled persons and to speculate why the misperception persists. 7. Gender and race issues. The experiences of disabled women and minorities differ from those of White men. Disability has differential impacts on t h e status, expectations, and life courses of men and women, including minority men and women (Fine & Asch, 1981). Consideration of these data not only alerts students to the underrepresentation of disabled women and minorities, but also offers perspectives on how discrimination based on disability resembles and differs from gender and race discrimination in its origin and in its consequences (Asch & Fine, in Fine & Asch, 1988). In addition, it is important to learn how disability is viewed by nondisabled people within different racial and ethnic groups, and by women and men, and how these different views affect the life chances of disabled group members.
