Out of the Disability Closet: Strategic use of perception management by select university students with disabilities

This study examines the ways in which university students with apparent and hidden disabilities actively manage the perceptions of others. Interview data were collected and analysed by theme. Students indicated that they valued their own experience of disability, but were aware that knowledge of their disability altered the behaviors of others toward them. Whereas some perception management strategies have previously been called denial and 'passing,' for our participants these behaviors constituted a set of interpersonal skills. Participants evaluated themselves positively while struggling to project an image as complex individuals rather than stereotypes. Within deviance theory, passing as non-disabled has been conceptualised as a reactive social behavior that is motivated by low self-regard or fear. Our findings do not support this model. We, therefore, examine perception management within the framework of social identity theory.