Dehumanizing disability: Evidence for subtle and blatant dehumanization of people with physical disabilities

Abstract

Extensive research has examined the dehumanization, or perception of others as less than human, of various stigmatized/minoritized groups. Previous literature investigating dehumanization of groups often considers dehumanization along a single dimension (e.g., denial of human emotions, denial of mind), despite the existence of many different models of dehumanization. In the current work, we integrate four popular models of dehumanization (i.e., infrahumanization, dual model of dehumanization, mind perception, and blatant dehumanization). Here, we focus on dehumanization of people with physical disabilities, a stigmatized group often overlooked in the dehumanization literature. In this work, we examined whether people with physical disabilities (i.e., paralysis from a spinal cord injury) are dehumanized relative to people without physical disabilities. Across 2 samples (N = 405), we found that participants dehumanized people with (relative to people without) physical disabilities on the dual model of dehumanization, mind perception, and blatant dehumanization measures. However, we observed the opposite pattern for infrahumanization whereby participants dehumanized people without physical disabilities relative to people with physical disabilities. This research extends dehumanization research first by integrating four popular models of dehumanization and second by considering an overlooked population (i.e., people with physical disabilities) in the literature. Further, this work may aid in informing future intervention approaches aimed at decreasing dehumanization of people with physical disabilities.