Improving Interability Attitudes: Examining Positive and Negative Communication Processes

Abstract Integrating intergroup contact theory and communication accommodation theory, this study examined associations between participants’ ( N = 780) communication experiences with people with visible physical disabilities (PWVPD) and intergroup attitudes. Findings revealed that accommodative communication functioned as a positive form of intergroup contact. Specifically, perceptions of communication accommodation to PWVPD were positively associated with intergroup attitudes. Additionally, perceived accommodation to PWVPD had significant positive indirect associations with positive interability attitudes through anxiety reduction and empathy building. However, nonaccommodative communication behaviors functioned as a negative type of intergroup contact. While communication nonaccommodation did not directly affect intergroup attitudes, nonaccommodative communication from PWVPD had significant negative indirect associations through the same mediators with intergroup attitudes. This study highlights the ways in which positive and negative forms of interability communication influence disability attitudes directly and indirectly through empathy and anxiety.