Gender differences in the perceptions of psychosocial experiences reported by persons with disabilities

✍ Scribed by Ross Crisp

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 216 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0045-0766
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1630.2002.00304.x

✦ Synopsis

The objective of this study was to describe the subjective experience of living with disability. Intensive semistructured interviews were conducted with 35 participants who had a disability. Data were collected and analysed with grounded theory methods, and resulted in typological and thematic analyses. Four groups were identified according to their overall sense of well‐being, and these groups were referred to as Battlers, Strugglers, Contenders and Optimisers. The Battlers and Strugglers reported the greatest psychosocial difficulties. The Contenders indicated that they were progressing towards achieving their vocational and social goals, and the Optimisers reported satisfaction in social and vocational activities and a high sense of well‐being. Dominant gender stereotypes were evident in most of the participants’ self‐reports and influenced their perceptions concerning issues related to employment status and social interaction. Issues related to 13 persons with non‐English speaking backgrounds were also reported.