The visibility of disability: experiences of stigma among wheelchair users

Despite the substantial evidence base highlighting the benefits of engaging in leisure activities; participation in this domain of occupation is greatly reduced in people with physical impairments and is frequently limited to solitary leisure engagement. Physical and attitudinal barriers within the environment have been identified as potential explanations for this. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities aims to minimise these barriers and promote full inclusion but it has yet to be ratified in Ireland. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of stigma among wheelchair users during social leisure engagement. The aims of the study were met by carrying out semi-structured interviews with eight adults who became wheelchair users during adolescence or in adulthood. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse data. Results included themes related to the visibility of disability. Participants reported feeling invisible as people but felt that the wheelchair was hypervisible and resulted in stigmatising treatment from strangers. The accounts of these experiences occurred more frequently in the earlier years of being a wheelchair user and participants identified changes in their personal factors as one of the reasons for this shift. Occupational therapists are ideally placed to enable clients to assert their right to full and equal participation through meaningful occupational engagement.