Siblings of People with Disabilities’ Explicit and Implicit Disability Attitude Divergence

ABSTRACT

Siblings of people with disabilities have more exposure to people with disabilities than most nondisabled people, uniquely positioning them toward disability, yet less is known about how this might impact their attitudes. This study examined siblings’ disability attitudes by determining siblings’ explicit and implicit disability bias, mapping their 2-dimensional prejudice, and examining theoretical variables that might be relevant to their attitudes. To do so, the Disability Attitudes Implicit Association Test, the Symbolic Ableism Scale, and survey questions were administered to 48 siblings. Findings revealed the majority of the siblings implicitly preferred nondisabled people, despite reporting low levels of explicit attitudes.

KEYWORDS:

• Ableism
• aversive ableism
• bias
• disability attitudes
• explicit attitudes
• implicit attitudes
• prejudice
• siblings of people with disabilities

Notes

This category includes both the concepts of symbolic and modern prejudice. Although at one time they were considered separate, the significant bulk of the literature now considers them the same thing (Henry & Sears, 2008). Thus it is referred to as symbolic prejudice throughout this article for clarity.