ABSTRACT
Intergroup encounters are experiences where people are likely to behave (or to be perceived to behave) in terms of their social group membership more than as individuals (see Chapter 2, this volume). For people with disabilities, everyday encounters with family, friends and health care providers may be defined in terms of group membership. Able-bodied individuals in encounters with people with disabilities may communicate with a person with a disability as if the disability frames the interaction. Similarly, people with disabilities may interpret communicative behaviors through the lens of group membership affiliated with a disability group. An intergroup understanding helps explain the challenges people with disabilities describe about navigating relationships and interpersonal encounters, such that people respond to the disability more than responding to individual attributes.
