Contagion Fear: An Evolved Form of Disability Prejudice

People can’t catch physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities like they catch the common cold. Yet across the globe, people treat those with disabilities as if they are contagious, expressing repulsion and shunning disabled people in both private and public settings. This entry describes one of the more primitive forms of disability prejudice drawing on evolutionary theory with evidence about where, when, and with whom these more unconscious forms of prejudice emerge. The argument is that some intergroup prejudices reflect more instinctually driven behavioral tendencies that evolved to protect our human ancestors from disease and other pathogens. Although adaptive to survival, a disease-detection system that became too inclusive over time may have triggered avoidance not only of those with contagious conditions but also of those with bodily appearances or behaviors associated with poor health—even when not infectious. An overactive disease-avoidance mechanism can help to explain why some people respond more fearfully to others with open sores, spasms, and missing limbs as these cues are all associated with deadly infections worldwide. Consequently, people who have uneven limbs, asymmetric faces, or who tremble may automatically trigger a false alarm that is expressed as discomfort and results in avoidance of contact with people who experience disabilities. Research shows that people with cleft palates, amputated limbs, burns, and facial scars frequently report being treated as if they were contaminated eliciting gestures of disgust. Such “germophobic” reactions have important implications for policies that promote inclusion and interaction. Yet, when researchers assume that all prejudices are learned, they may be missing the explanatory power of evolutionary psychology which extends contemporary ideas about the origins of ableism to include fear-based reactions to explain certain prejudicial behaviors that may have been adaptive for survival in ancestral environments but currently contribute to irrational biases and discrimination in modern societies. Understanding these evolutionary roots can inform efforts to mitigate prejudice and discrimination toward various marginalized groups.