Within the context of medical privacy, probably no group faces more pressure for disclosure than those who have an observable stigma. For example, complete strangers often ask intrusive questions of those who are paralyzed that they wouldn’t think of asking an able-bodied person. In a research study entitled “Just How Much Did That Wheelchair Cost?” University of Nebraska communication professor Dawn Braithwaite reports how the physically disabled manage
their privacy boundaries. She found that in most cases paraplegics will answer a question if they deem it appropriate to the discussion or if it’s posed by a kid. But if they think it comes out of sheer nosiness or morbid curiosity, they avoid answering or respond to the question with sarcasm. One respondent reported that there are “times that people come up to me and say point blank . . ., ’How did you get in that wheelchair?’ ‘Well,’ I’ll ask, ’Which story do you want? Do you want the real story, do you want my story of Vietnam, or do you want my story about my romantic endeavors?’” Another person confined to a wheelchair admitted, “I’m not beyond rolling over toes, really. I have been in situations where . . . there’s really no other alternative.”