Stereotyping and Intergroup Perceptions of Disabled and Nondisabled Children: A New Perspective

Abstract

This research seeks to establish relationships between the stereotypes, self‐ratings and peer‐ratings of students in an experimental secondary school attended by both disabled and nondisabled young people. To study the influence that contact with disabled classmates has upon intergroup perceptions, responses of these students were compared with those of students attending a secondary school that does not practise mainstreaming.Results vary, depending upon whether subjects were asked to attribute adjectives from a list to classmates, some of whom were disabled, or to the disabled persons in general. This research highlights the need to adopt a new approach to intergroup relations.