Survey reveals social attitudes to disability
Whilst the may have been grabbed by the findings about a decline in the support for civil liberties in the light of an increased terrorist threat, the 23rd report into British Social Attitudes, published today by the has also revealed widespread prejudice against disabled people. Time for some facts and figures.
聲 75% of respondents think that there is prejudice against disabled people in Britain today - but only 25% think that there is a lot of prejudice. Yet, as the results go on to show, the survey's respondents display views which indicate quite widespread prejudice.
聲 More than half (52%) of the respondents don't think of schizophrenia as a disability. Just 44% think that someone with cancer or an older person who needs a hearing aid is disabled, and only a quarter think that someone with a severe facial disfigurement is disabled. But nearly a third think that someone who is temporarily on crutches because of a broken leg qualifies as a disabled person. So while the legal definition of disability under the DDA is any person who has a physical or mental impairment or long-term health condition, which has a substantial and long-term effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities, the general public appears to have a far narrower view - one that is purely focused on physical impairments.
聲 There's a lot of unease at the prospect of coming into contact with people with certain impairments. Only 29% say that they would feel comfortable if someone with schizophrenia moved in next door to them, with only 19% saying that they would feel comfortable about a person with schizophrenia marrying a close relative of theirs.
聲 It's not just mental health impairments, though: only 21% say they would be comfortable with a close relative marrying someone with a long-term health condition like MS or severe arthritis, and just over half would be comfortable with a family member walking down the aisle with a blind person.
聲 The news gets better elsewhere in the survey. For instance, knowing a disabled person makes for a great impact in reducing prejudice. People with first or second hand experience of disability tend to perceive prejudice to be more widespread and hold less negative attitudes towards disabled people. So on the question of someone with schizophrenia moving in next door, 82% of people who don't know anyone who is disabled would not feel comfortable, compared with 71% who know someone who is disabled. Yet 62% of disabled people themselves would not feel comfortable in such a situation - an interesting statistic.
So what do you make of these research findings? Do they tally with your experience of life and attitudes? Are there surprises amongst the facts and figures? Are you shocked by what the general public thinks, or does it all seem to comfirm what you already know? Tell us your views in the comments.
Comments
I think that the results are alarming, but then they are misleading in themselves in any meaningful analysis of what people understand as Disability because they are reliant on a Medical Model approach to Disability which many Disabled people rightly reject. I believe it would be more revealing to ask what people understood by the term "Disablism".
Saying that Schizophrenia is not a disability is an appalling cop-out, which neither justifies the extensive discriminatory actions against people with that diagnosis nor does anything to alleviate the considerable, often terminal hard-ship which goes with trying to cope with the full implications of a condition which is never adequately treated without concomitant side-effects which add to the original afflictions so greatly as to make the efficacy of treatment questionable.
Add to that the mis-directed ostracism and stigmatisation directed against ourselves and you have the formula for scape-goating that ensures that someone with this diagnosis will never make a full recovery until positive discrimination in our favour is implemented for each one of us.
52 percent have got it all entirely wrong, and should do something about the gaping hole that exists in their social awareness.
Their propensity to appreciate that they could themselves very easily be counted among our number would be the only thing that could redeem them from an untenable disposition towards a very large sector of our communities. 1 in 4, remember.
It would be interesting to see the full survey but I can't seem to find the text, only links to purchas it at 艁45.
The comments above certainly make for interesting, if not unsurprising, reading.
I think that people in general will always hold predujices and be wary of those that appear to be different to the norm. It may be wrong but I very much doubt things will change overnight.
I can fully understand why people think that sufferers of schizophrenia and cancer are not classed as disabled as I would imagine that the majority think that being disabled means lack of mobility, not able to walk and other 'obvious' physical problems.
At the end of the day, none of us can force people to have more of a social concsience, it is up to them.
I have Aspgergers. I've often had to lie about it just to get interviews. They see the Aspergers and think of the severe end of Autism.
The fact that I have gained an HND and have a full driver's license doesn't seem to matter, I'm just a spastic to them. That may be wrong but I'll be willing to bet they're thinking that and I'm not a gambler.
I'm considering doing my own survey on people's attitudes towards Aspergers. A completely inpromptu one on the streets of various towns in Cornwall (the county I live in).
I can't say that the findings of the survey surprise me. I have found that unless non-disabled people either know someone with an imparirment or have a close family member with an impairment then disabled people hardly register with them. I find it depressing that the public views disability pretty much as they have always done despite the DDA and 30 odd years of the disability movement. There is still a long way to go before attitudes will change significantly.
Can I just play Devil's Advocate here and suggest that (for example) the 79% of people who would feel uncomfortable about a close relative marrying someone with a long term health condition might not be feeling uncomfortable because they are inherently prejudiced, but simply from concern for their relative - they understand that there is discrimination out there, that their relative's partner is going to find it tough, and therefore so will their relative, and therefore they aren't totally relaxed about it even if they APPROVE of the marriage because of the emotional demands and stresses that society will place on the couple?
Incidentally, why use the term "marry" instead of something like "live with"? Can't disabled people have homosexual relationships too? Or do disabled people just have different in-built prejudices...?
Here in the US, we have the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) with pretty much gives A LOT of leverage to folks with limited capabilities (both mental and physical), but Mental Illness is still an area where issues crop up.
Does the survey results not reflect the governments own attitude to disability. Whilst they might claim support for mental health to be recognised as a disability the reality they create is very different. Mental health services are drasticaly underfunded. 6 - 12 months for pyschological interventions for potentialy suicidal depressives. The DWP 12 monthly disability form and examinations with just lip service played to end of form small box for mental health problems, and emphasis throughought on physical disability and the aggressive examination and scoring system which works against mental health problems. If the governemnt does not recognise the impact on the individual and society of mental health illness then how do we expect the public to empathise and understand the impact.
I'm a subscriber to "Ouch!", with multiple disabilities. I am living in the USA. This survey reveals similar attitudes to those in the States. Whether one believes in the Medical Model of Disability, or definitions more in line with social observation, the public view of persons with disabilities is both inhumane and unreasonable. The idea that one must be both physically and visibly "damaged" to be seen as "disabled" seems to be widespread in both countries.
I believe that this demonstrates a deficit in our educational and political systems. The only way to fight public ignorance is for our leaders and our schools to make effective education a priority.
Isn't it funny that I'm allowed to say "I don't want to live next door to this schizophrenic because he might kill me and my children" but I'm not allowed to say "I don't want to live next door to a black man because he might eat me" ?
I hate the word schizophrenia anyway. What does it mean?
There are NO positive movies or examples of someone living with Schizophrenia in popular media.
I know many people who don't think Schizophrenia even exists.
The same problem exists for many Mental Illnesses. Mental Illnesses need better Public Relations (PR).
A good friend of mine is Bi-Polar. Her late teens and 20's were hell, since she didn't know she was Bi-Polar and she self medicated with illegal drugs. Once she was diagnosed, given a stable location to live, and able to build up new friendships with people who would support her socially, she was able to function as an adult. She still needs accommodations from her friends so that her Bi-Polar swings are not as wild, but she is more than worth it.
I have lived next to a person who was lost in other realities. He was scary to live next to. You were never sure if he was going to attack you or not. I treated him with respect at all times and listened to him switch from reality to reality, so he mostly didn't vandalize my house or property. He was a menace to the neighbors that called him names to his face.
I guess since I have met several people (in addition to the ones mentioned here) with Mental Illnesses, I understand how disabling it can be. I have been afraid of some people with Mental Illnesses, but I have also met some incredible people with Mental Illnesses.
Would I knowingly marry someone with a Mental Illness? I don't know. My husband has a mild form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but it doesn't do more than temporarily inconvenience him every few months.
I have lived next to someone with a significant Mental Illness impairment. I am sad to say that I am happy to no longer have to placate the gentleman. It was a lot of work to not end up assulted. I would happily live next to my Bi-Polar friend. Her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa.
Interesting, that's for sure. As a non-disabled person, who does have deaf friends, I have to say that I would have never counted in schizophrenia as a disability. I would have seen it as a mental disease... which, I guess, is a disability- just not the kind that immediately springs to mind when the word 'disabled' is used. Very interesting. Would I feel comfortable with a schizophrenia sufferer moving in next door? Well... I don't know. I have a friend who works at a hospital for that sort of thing, but she probably just sees the really bad cases.
This is really shocking because my daily experiences say otherwise. Most of the time, without any second thoughts, any deviation from what is normal is automatically considered an impairment.