Proceedings of Business and Social Sciences Research Conference
10 - 11 December 2015, Ambassador Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, ISBN: 978-1-922069-90-0
Intercultural Communication Perspective of Persons with
Disabilities (PWDs): A Case Study on the Communication
Adjustments of PWDs towards Ablebodied Persons
James Sab Labrigas and Karen Joyce Cayamanda
Research on the communication of persons with acquired disabilities from their perspective
provides us a unique opportunity to study how previous members of a mainstream culture adjust
to becoming members of a minority culture. This study aimed to determine how persons with
acquired disabilities adjust their verbal and nonverbal communication behavior when
communicating with ablebodied persons, specifically in the context of the household and
workplace. For the verbal communication adjustments, the researchers focused on the PWDs'
language usage and speech styles. On the other hand, for the nonverbal communication
adjustments, the researchers focused on the subjects’ use of time and space. Five cases were
subjected to in-depth interviews, overt participation, and unobtrusive observation. Using Giles’
Communication Accommodation Theory, results of the analysis revealed that the subjects
generally converge their communication behavior towards ablebodied persons. Moreover, using
the concepts of intercultural communication, the researcher found that the subjects’ self-identity
and social location as well as the ablebodied persons’ stereotypes and views on PWDs affect
their communication behavior in such a way that they create verbal and nonverbal
communication adjustments when interacting with ablebodied persons. Furthermore, this study
also identified factors of easy integration of the subjects into the mainstream society.
Keywords: Persons with disabilities, ablebodied persons, intercultural communication, verbal
communication, nonverbal communication.
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James Sab Labrigas and Karen Joyce Cayamanda, University of the Philippines Mindanao, College of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Mintal, Tugbok District, Davao City, Philippines 8000,
Email: jameslabrigas@gmail.com