According to Goffman (1963:3), stigma is an ‘attribute that is deeply discrediting’. Social psychology defines it as a set of cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects that reinforce stereotypes and prejudices, leading people to hold negative attitudes towards a subgroup of diverse individuals. Stigma underpins discrimination against this group (Sheehan and Corrigan, 2020).

In the case of people with borderline intellectual disability, several studies have concluded that stereotypes towards this group reinforce the belief that they are dependent, incapable, overly emotional, impulsive and inept individuals (Wilson and Scior, 2015; National Disability Authority, 2017). This leads to discrimination and attitudes of rejection or overprotection, consequently hindering employment and educational opportunities (Zamorano et al., 2024; Varughese et al., 2011; Werner and Scior, 2022). Despite their limitations, these people can work, engage in leisure activities, travel, have a partner and, in short, enjoy a life comparable to that of the rest of the population if they receive adequate social support.

In order to determine the degree of stigmatisation suffered by people with BID in Spain, this study examines the feelings and stereotypes towards this group based on the EMODI survey, a representative sample of the Spanish population that included the participation of 1,618 people. 

As Martha Nussbaum (2019) points out by building on Aristotle’s postulates, there are no intrinsically good or bad emotions, but rather that all of them in their diversity help us to live and convey our needs. However, while some of them act as social glue and encourage an emotional bond, others can create distance and fragmentation. The first group includes respect, compassion and gratitude, in other words, emotions that weave bonds of solidarity and community. The second includes anger, fear and disgust, which tend to build walls and create mistrust between people instead of uniting them.

According to the results of the study, most emotions – respect, compassion and gratitude – inspired by people with borderline intellectual disability promote integration. However, there are also negative emotions among the respondents: 31.3% say that they provoke moderate anger and 7.5% extreme anger; 26%, moderate fear; 4%, extreme fear; and 10.8%, moderate disgust. 

The coexistence of feelings of inclusion and rejection reflects a tense society, in which the path towards integration encounters old prejudices and irrational fears, such as anger, fear and disgust, which dehumanise those who appear ‘different’ and undermine the foundations of an enriching, inclusive coexistence. Building a more egalitarian, compassionate society, where people of different abilities have equal opportunities to thrive in life, is progressing slowly because of stigma, as the results from the EMODI survey cautiously suggest and as employment, education and economic data confirm. 

Together with questions about emotions, the survey also asked participants to respond to questions about their beliefs about people with BID. Positive perceptions were generally obtained. The majority of respondents believe that people with BID have autonomy (7.2 out of 10) and that they are aware of their surroundings (6.7 out of 10), in other words, they are able to perform everyday tasks such as cooking or using public transport and can live independently.

Nonetheless, there are still some stigmas that could increase the marginalisation and social exclusion of this group (Falk, 2001; Scior and Werner, 2016). For example, 14.6% of the participants think that people with BID behave childishly in their personal relationships, sexuality, work, etc. They also believe that their family members tend to hide their disability, which reflects a perception of their exclusion in society. Moreover, they perceive differences in social interaction with them, such as unusual behaviour during a conversation (5.5 out of 10). 

In terms of the social relationships that respondents would be willing to have with people with BID, establishing a friendship with them receives an average score of 8 out of 10, but a closer relationship, such as sharing a home, is scored at 7 out of 10. This indicates that people with BID are more accepted in the social rather than in the personal sphere. Another observation, with a score of almost 5 out of 10, is that respondents feel insecure when dealing with people with BID, thereby leading to social distancing and exclusion.

Furthermore, the study also looks at the relationship between emotions and sociodemographic characteristics. For example, with regard to compassion – one of the emotions most conducive to social cohesion – the results show that women tend to feel more compassion towards people with BID than men. Age also plays a crucial role: people aged between 18 and 24 are more likely to show compassion, while those in the 55-64 age group tend to show less compassion. In terms of education, people with no or only primary education tend to be less compassionate than those with a university education.

Three conclusions can be drawn from these data. Firstly, that women, who have traditionally played a leading role in caring for the health and well-being of the family, continue to show a greater propensity for compassion and consequently for the inclusion of people with BID. Secondly, the data obtained from young people contrasts with the image that society usually has of them: more detached from social problems and less empathetic. Thirdly, education and culture help to make societies more inclusive, in line with Socratic ethical intellectualism, which states that knowledge and education can help to avoid behaviours that prevent the proper development of social values such as solidarity, empathy or justice. 

Finally, respondents had to specify whether they were answering the questions on the basis of their own experience with people with BID or on the basis of popular consciousness, in other words, socially preconceived ideas about this group. Although only 12.3% of the total number of participants – a minority – know or regularly interact with people with BID, several differences in the answers are worth noting. It is generally observed that daily interaction with people with BID influences the emotions they awaken. 39% of respondents who do not have people with BID in their everyday environment report feeling anger towards them, but when they do have them, the percentage drops to 34%. In the case of fear, the percentage is 30% when there are no people with BID in their environment and 27% when there are. For the remaining emotions, both positive and negative, no difference or a variation of one percentage point was observed, thereby confirming that regular contact with people with BID has a positive effect.

With regard to the reactions generated, having people with BID in one’s immediate environment generally favours closer ties and social inclusion, as well as recognition of their autonomy and abilities. For example, while 61% of respondents without people with BID in their environment believe that the latter can take care of themselves, this percentage rises to 65% when there are people with BID in their environment. Similarly, 74% of respondents without people with BID in their environment would have a friend with BID and 57% would live with a person with BID, while these figures rise to 80% and 61% respectively when there are people with BID in their environment.

Nonetheless, the fact of being in contact with people with BID also leads them to believe that these people have an exclusionary and stigmatising social environment: while 19% of respondents without people with BID in their everyday environment think that families hide the fact that they have relatives with BID, this figure rises to 23% when there are people with BID in their everyday environment.

These data show the extent to which contact with people with BID fosters closeness to them, but they also allow us to perceive to a greater extent exclusion and rejection by society, as well as certain stigmatising behaviours. 

Although inclusive emotions towards people with BID outweigh excluding emotions, there is a considerable presence of the latter, with the consequent risk that they may lead to their social isolation and prevent them from leading a fulfilling life. 

The results obtained by exploring the beliefs of respondents towards people with BID indicate a general acceptance of their ability to live independently and to look after themselves. However, they also suggest, albeit to a lesser extent, the persistence of ideas that associate them with childish behaviour and families hiding them. There is also a perception, albeit less common, that these people may exhibit aggressive behaviour. Our society has inclusive feelings towards BID, but ideas from the past, such as infantilization and eugenics, which promote the exclusion of people with disabilities, still persist in our society. These findings highlight the importance of continuing to promote a fair and realistic image of people with BID in order to undermine the stereotypes and prejudices that still exist in Spanish society.

The EMODI survey, which explores the feelings, stereotypes and prejudices of Spanish society towards people with intellectual disabilities, was carried out among Spanish residents aged 18 and over. A total of 1,618 interviews were carried out using a structural panel sampling technique, including specific quotas for gender, age, socioeconomic level and autonomous community. Assuming simple random sampling, with a confidence level of 95.5% and maximum heterogeneity (p = 50; q = 50), the margin of error of the survey is +/- 2.44%. The fieldwork was conducted between 30 August and 4 September 2023. 

This work has been carried out within the framework of the Conecta Project: Welfare Effects CC21-0144 - EFFECTS OF WORK ON THE EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND THE COMPANY carried out by the Research Structure SEC-SEJ-684 IN3 - Inclusion, Innovation and Social Research of the University of Jaén, whose members are Eva Sotomayor, Javier Cortes Moreno, Adriana Lucena and Pilar Ríos. Ana Cano Sotomayor and Mirta del Blanco have also collaborated in the realization of the Project.  

The planning and design of the study as well as the discussion of the results included the active participation of the project’s members: Prode Foundation (Córdoba), APROMPSI (Jaén) and AFAMP (Bailén, Jaén), all of which are committed to improving the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

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