Retrospective study of childhood experiences of persons with disabilities and high achievement profiles in Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract: An attempt was made to examine early psychosocial home and school conditions of persons with disabilities and high achievement and resilient personality qualities. The subjects were persons with hearing, visual, and motor impairments. Structured and semi-structured questionnaire and focus-group discussions were employed for collecting field data. Over 82% of the participants reported that they had a conducive psychosocial home environment in their early childhood development which was manifested in the form of mutual understanding, affection, acceptance, and provision of back-up support. A t-test result also revealed no statistically significant differences (α = 0.05) across the different disability groups. Furthermore, high correlation coefficient (r = 0.89) but no statistically significant differences (α = 0.05) were found between early psychosocial experience of the participants and their current home interaction. It is suggested that the quality of early familial psychosocial support for children with disabilities play a vital role for their subsequent achievement and success in life. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1999;13(3):195-204]