Enhancing social skills and self-perceptions of physically disabled young adults. Assertiveness training versus discussion groups.

Researchers split physically disabled college students into three groups. One group got short assertiveness training. Another joined peer discussion circles. The last group waited with no help.

The team watched real role-plays and asked how assertive each student felt. They wanted to see which method built real-life assertive behavior.

Assertiveness training beat both discussion and wait-list. Students asked for help, said no, and spoke up more often.

They also rated themselves as more assertive after the course. Yet no group felt better about their disability.

Jones et al. (1977) showed the same BST recipe works for shy kids. The 1987 study proves the steps still work for disabled young adults.

Mellitz et al. (1983) warned that patients see assertive people as skilled but less likable. The new study still found gains, likely because students practiced in a safe campus lab, not a hospital.

Connor et al. (2020) later used a similar group format for adults with autism. They added work-place drills, showing the idea keeps spreading to new groups.

You can copy the short protocol: model, rehearse, give feedback, repeat. Use it with any young adult who struggles to speak up, disability or not. Add brief small-talk lines, as White (1986) suggests, to dodge the “less likable” label. Run the group for a few weeks and watch real assertive responses climb.