Rehabilitation Psychology, Vol 70(4), Nov 2025, 365-371; doi:10.1037/rep0000601
Purpose/Objective: People often view individuals with disabilities as incapable of working, contributing to society, and forming relationships. Therefore, it is important to develop interventions to reduce those negative stereotypes. Increasing accurate disability representation is one way to counteract those stereotypes. The present study’s aim was to examine the impact of disability representation on disability stigma. Research Method/Design: Participants consisted of 246 people from the U.S. general population who were randomized into one of three vignette groups: counterstereotypical representation (read about individuals with disabilities who were thriving), stereotypical representation (read about individuals with disabilities who were struggling), and a control group (read about able-bodied individuals who were thriving). Visual analog scales assessing disability stigma were completed pre- and postexposure to the vignettes. Results: Disability stigma significantly decreased in the counterstereotypical group, significantly increased in the stereotypical group, and did not change in the control group from pre- to postexposure. At postexposure, the counterstereotypical group had significantly lower disability stigma than the stereotypical group, and the stereotypical group had significantly higher disability stigma than the control group. Conclusion/Implications: It would be valuable for the media to increase counterstereotypical representations and decrease stereotypical representations of individuals with disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)