ABSTRACT
Keywords: Interability communication, Social Identity Theory, Communication
Accommodation Theory, Intergroup Contact Theory, Interactive Acculturation Model
More than 50 years ago, Meyerson (1948) urged researchers to develop theoretical
frameworks for studying issues related to disability. These theories were meant to go
beyond viewing disability as a biological classification and instead frame disability as a
social issue. Subsequently, researchers in the areas of rehabilitation, psychology, special
education, and sociology responded with a plethora of disability-related theories. Some
examples include systems theory, which examines the effects of disabilities on families
(Patterson, 1991; Seligman & Darling, 1997); object relations, which describes
personality developments of people with disabilities (Thomas & Garske, 1995); drive
theory, which explains reactions to disability (Thomas, 1994); contact theory, which
describes attitudes toward people with physical disabilities (Tripp, French, & Sherrill,
1995); and attachment theory, which focuses on the limited exploration of the world by
people with disabilities (Clegg & Lansdall-Welfare, 1995). Most recent are attempts to
integrate medical and psychological models of disability to explain behavior toward
people with disabilities (Johnston, 1996). These theories have guided research and
increased understanding of the issues related to persons with disabilities, but only in the
last 20 years have theories emerged that specifically target communication between
people with and without disabilities. In this chapter, we review the literature related to
theories of communication between people with and without disabilities, which we term
interability communication, and in doing so attempt to explain, via interability
communication theory (ICT), how psychological and sociological variables affect
communication that occurs in interability situations.
