Perceptions of school life among physically disabled mainstreamed pupils

Summary Perceptions of school life were examined among physically disabled pupils, aged nine to 12, learning in regular classrooms in Israel. Three groups (N = 25 per group) of pupils–extremely short, diabetic and orthopaedically impaired children — corresponding to Goffman's (1963) categorization of stigmatized persons responded to the Israeli Quality of School Life scale. Significant differences between the groups were found on four of the seven subscales. Short children as compared to orthopaedically impaired pupils were more satisfied with social aspects of schooling, but reacted less positively to their teachers. Diabetic pupils were also less satisfied with teachers than were orthopaedically impaired children and they demonstrated relative dissatisfaction with affective components of schooling. Implications for designing more appropriate school environments for main‐streamed physically disabled pupils are discussed.