Stigma consciousness and quality of life in persons with physical and sensory disability

Belonging to a stigmatized group affects the quality of life and well-being of its members. However, the role that consciousness of belonging to a stigmatized group plays on one's well-being is still unknown. In addition, among the different groups studied there is a lack of information on the collective of disabled persons, even though it is a minority group who also suffers from social prejudice. The objective of the present paper is to study the relationships between stigma conscience and quality of life in a group of Spanish disabled persons, and to establish which variables determine this relationship. A total of 201 individuals participated in the study, of which 90 had sensory disability, 102 had physical disability and 9 had other types of disabilities. The results show a negative relationship between stigma conscience, quality of life and satisfaction. Differences were found regarding gender, type of disability and reason of disability.