To the editor:

I want to congratulate you on the editorial in the last issue of Public Opinion Pros [“For Goodness’ Sake,” December 2006]. I read it from a disability point of view, since that's the field I've been working in for a long time. The editorial captures so well the problem of general public opinion with regard to people with disabilities: Either the public's expectations (and conditions for performance) are so low that their negative stereotypes are confirmed, or they laud the rare extraordinary performer (the "super-crip" who had extraordinary conditions) and don't modify their expectations at all for other people with disabilities. From the examples you gave at the end of your piece, I don't know if you even were thinking of disability as the type of characteristic that is treated that way, but it sure works for that one among many other applications.

Thanks for getting a profound point across in such a sugar-coated way.

Corinne Kirchner, Ph.D.

Senior Research Scientist

American Foundation for the Blind