Social representations of young people about people with disabilities and disabilities in an inclusive educational environment: the experience of cross-cultural research

Relevance . Interest in the study of social representations arose due to the development of inclusion in all spheres of life. This fact has an impact on the specifics of training Russian and foreign students in this field in a medical university, the development of their inclusive competence. The study of cross-cultural features of social representations of persons with disabilities and the disabled, the identification of universal and specific phenomena in respondents will contribute to understanding social and psychological phenomena at the individual level that determine social attitudes and behavior of individuals in an inclusive modern society, taking into account its sociocultural characteristics. The purpose of the study is to study the cross-cultural characteristics of social perceptions of people with disabilities and people with disabilities among Russian and foreign students. Objectives : to analyze the content characteristics and approaches to the study of social representations; to develop programs of empirical research; to describe the results of the study; to formulate conclusions. Methodology . This study is based on the provisions of the theory of social constructionism (P. Berger, T. Lukman; J.Douglas); E. Durkheim's concepts of collective representations; theories of social representations (S. Moscovici, D. Jodelet, etc.). Research methods: theoretical analysis of literature, research interview, method of verbal associations, testing, content analysis. Results . Both similar and specific phenomena in social representations of people with disabilities and people with disabilities in the samples of Russian and foreign students were revealed. Similar is the presence of tolerant attitudes towards people with disabilities and people with disabilities in both samples. The differences relate to the social level of social perceptions, as well as the characteristics of social distance in relation to respondents to this category of citizens. Conclusions . Along with a tolerant attitude towards people with disabilities and people with disabilities, respondents have insufficient professional awareness of this category of citizens, experience difficulties in interacting with them at the level of joint activities and professional relationships, which requires the development of additional programs and practices in the context of social, educational and volunteer activities to develop inclusive competence of students.