Understanding of People with Disabilities among Health Sciences University Students

Abstract

This study examined understanding regarding people with disabilities among health sciences university students who are strictly required to treat patients equally. Specifically, the study examined the reasons that enabled students to discern that someone had a disability when first meeting them as well as the different ways that students used honne (i.e., a genuine voice that conveys a person’s true feelings) and tatemae (i.e., a politicallycorrect façade shown in public spaces) when explaining about people with disabilities to elementary and junior high school students. The results revealed that over 80% of the study participants indicated that when meeting someone with a disability for the first time, they could tell that the person had a disability by sightalone or by sight and hearing. However, when the participants were explaining about people with disabilities to elementary and junior high school students, a high percentage of them chose conceptual explanations rather than explanations based on appearance. Moreover, when participants were explaining about people with disabilities in terms of honne, a high percentage of them referred to appearance, whereas tatemae explanations tended to be more conceptual. Contrary to expectations, these findings indicate that while health sciences university students’ understanding of people with disabilities may appear to be standardized, as is the case with medical treatment, this was not in fact the case.