THE NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION OF THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED*

This paper explores the types of problems which may arise as a function of a physical disability and its effects on non-verbal com-munication. Examples of social interaction problems were obtained through participant observation at a physical rehabilitation hospital. The author assumes that social skills based on communication through and by the body need to be conceptualized and have implications for their use in therapeutic settings. Numerous writers and observers of daily life have commented upon the strained interactions between the physically disabled and the non-disabled. This tension has been attributed to negative stereotypes associated with disability (Barker et al., 1953), deviant status (Freidson, 1966; Davis, 1962) and stigma (Goffman, 1963). Here, this flawed interaction is discussed as a function of distortions, inter-ruptions, and erroneous information conveyed by the presence of th