The social skill difficulties of young adults with physical disabilities

Adolescence is generally considered to be a time of increased social activity and the rapid expansion of a teenager's social circle. By contrast, a young person with a physical disability is likely to lack social independence, become socially isolated and experience difficulties in maintaining social relationships. The present study indicates that while both able-bodied and physically disabled young people experience difficulties in social situations, those with physical disabilities experience difficulties that are more severe in nature. Overall, 75% of the disabled group and 70% of the comparison group experienced difficulties in social situations. However, 37% of the disabled group experienced difficulties that were severe in nature compared to only 3% of the comparison group. Whilst these problems are of sufficient magnitude to warrant intervention, programmes of social skills training for people with physical disabilities are not yet generally available. It is recommended that training programmes in social skills should be made available to teenagers with physical disabilities.