Affective Impressions of Various Disabilities Using the Semantic Differential Method
Junichi Takahashi

Abstract
The present study measured affective impressions of disabilities (intellectual disability, physically handicapped, weakness, blindness, deafness, and developmental disability). The present study adopted the SD (semantic differential) method. Fifty participants rated each disability-related term on 20 adjective pairs presented as six-point scales. A factor analysis extracted three factors: Activity, Evaluation, and Potency. On the basis of scores for these factors, impressions of physically handicapped, weakness, blindness, and deafness were more negative than those of intellectual disability and developmental disability on the Activity factor. Participants negatively rated intellectual disability, physically handicapped, weakness, and developmental disability compared with blindness and deafness on the Evaluation factor. On the Potency factor, the participants negatively rated physically handicapped compared with other disabilities. The present results provide new evidence that affective impressions toward disabilities vary depending on the type of disability and on factors extracted by the SD method, considering the sensory/perceptual analysis underlying each factor.

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