History and current state of exclusion in Russia (according to public opinion polls in Tomsk)

The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the underlying beliefs and associations connected with disabilities in disabled and non-disabled people. The authors of this article used the works of various foreign and domestic researchers who studied such phenomenae as exclusion, a sense of group membership, frustration, suicide, and similar processes and phenomena. C. Williams, R.C. Barden, K. Gonsalkorale and others describe various negative experiences associated with exclusion, E. Durkheim investigated the problems of suicide, and C. Williams and K. Gonsalkorale also discovered the phenomenon of the mirror attitude of rejected people towards society. In addition, the authors rely on their previous research, which shows the history of the formation of adopting attitudes towards people with disabilities (based on the example of the educational space). This study was based on the works of A. Tyurin, F.L. Ratner, L. S. Emelina and other scientists. To study the modern attitude of the Russian society to the disabled persons, the authors conducted a socio-psychological study. Respondents from academical community (30 disabled people and 30 non-disabled people) were asked to answer a number of personal questions. Questionnaires were built on the M.P. Shulmin's methods “associative row” and “ladder of opportunities”. The final interpretation was carried out on the basis of the “Figure and Background” law, which implies that a person can keep in focus a limited number of objects that will be a figure, while the rest are a background. As a result of the study, negative correlations between the concepts of “disabled woman”, “disabled man” and the categories “people with social connections”, “young people”, and “adults” were revealed. A positive correlation was found between these concepts and a significant number of words with negative semantics. Such a result was shown by representatives of both groups (disabled and non- disabled), regardless of the respondent's gender. Interpreting these results on the basis of “Figure and Background” law shows us that in the minds of both disabled and non-disabled people disability is a figure, any other qualities of a disabled person fade into the background. Consequently, both disabled and non-disabled people consider the presence or absence of a disability to be the leading feature of an individual. This is the basis for the exclusion of persons with disabilities from Russian society. However, it does not mean that Russian society deliberately discriminates people with disabilities. Rather, we can assume that this situation is due to the lack of information on the real possibilities of people with disabilities among respondents. Dissemination of this information may lead to a solution of this problem.

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