Creativity and disability: Some insights for educators

Abstract

A term that has high social desirability and attractiveness when used to describe a person is "creativity". A term that can be said to have low social desirability is "disability". These two terms can be said to represent bipolar opposites when used in association with or describing a person. The social perceptions of and meanings associated with creativity and disability imply that these two concepts are rarely linked. The purpose of our research was to investigate the social perceptions and connotations of the terms "creativity" and "disability" from the perspectives of two groups of teachers/instructors: those who work with individuals with disabilities and those who do not work with and are not exposed on a regular basis to individuals with disabilities. Our study specifically focuses on how both these groups of teachers perceive and evaluate the appearance of individuals who are creative and have disabilities. Implications of the study for education are presented.