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Social-psychological interventions to change disability attitudes.

Abstract

India inhabits a large proportion of the population of the physically disabled people. While efforts for their mainstreaming and rehabilitation have been launched as a part of official policy, along with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-level initiatives, the prevalent negative attitude pose a serious challenge. The WHO formulation identifies impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions as key aspects of the lives of the disabled people. In order to provide equal opportunity to the disabled people the societal perception has to change. To this end, the social construction of disablement has been explored. The prejudices and stigmas attached to the disabled have to be removed and positive attitudes need to be installed. This becomes imperative as the disabled people often internalize the attitude held by others. The beliefs, feelings and behaviours held by the people need to be changed through attitudinal interventions.

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Type
Book Chapter