Psychological well-being and acceptance of disability: Comparison of individuals with congenital and acquired disabilities in a pilot study

Abstract

Although people with congenital disabilities are generally assumed to be better adapted than people with acquired disabilities, only few studies have tested this.This study tested the proposition that whether a disability is congenital or acquired plays an important role in the development of the acceptance of disability which in turn, affects satisfaction with life and happiness.154 participants with congenital (n=79) and acquired (n=75) mobility disabilities, aged between 18 and 66, completed an on-line questionnaire measuring satisfaction with life, subjective happiness and acceptance of disability. The latter contains four subscales of adaptation: (1) Containment of disability; (2) Subordination of physique; (3)Transformation from Comparative Status to Asset Values; (4) Enlargement of Scope ofValues. Participants with congenital disability reported lowerscores of subordination of physique, higherscores of enlargement of scope of values and acceptance of disability and were more satisfied with their life, compared to participants with acquired disability. Individuals who have an acquired disability for more than 10 years were also more satisfied with life and having higher scores of enlargement of scope of values and acceptance of disability and lower scores of subordination of physique than individuals who acquired their disability less than 10 years. Findings highlight the distinction between adaptation to congenital versus acquired mobility disability and the importance of acceptance of disability, which are rarely researched constructs. Our results are promising and should be validated by a larger sample size.