Differences and Similarities in Intended Messages vs. Perceived Messages: A View from the Handicapped Customer

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar V
  In Paper Session: Congruency of Discourse in Environmental Communication: Differences and Similarities in the Changing World of Aquariums

Abstract

In the past decade, issues surrounding the "greening" of America have surfaced at astounding rates. Literature is being used to educate children, office paper is made from recycled materials, cleaning materials are using non-chemical bases to protect the environment, and so on. It is not surprising, then, to see this focus coming through in conservation messages from the world of aquariums.

In addition, another “hot” topic in society today surrounds handicapped individuals. Businesses are required to make restrooms easily available to people in wheelchairs; teachers and professors are required to make their classrooms accommodating to people with limitations of sight, hearing, etc.; and employers are required to provide flexible work schedules, workspace changes, etc. for people who are included in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

These two current societal issues are explored in this paper. One current trend in the conservation mission is to make aquariums more hands-on in order to create a more personal bond between the aquarium creatures and humans so people will become more active conservationists. Aquariums also are moving toward more natural habitats so they move away from the image that has plagued aquariums for decades as being insensitive to the needs of these living things. However, these changes become difficult when trying to meet the needs of the handicapped customer. Someone who cannot get out of a wheelchair may not be able to lean over a pool to touch a dolphin. Someone who cannot go up stairs may find it difficult to keep up with backstage tours aimed at creating a more personal bond between humans and sea creatures.

If aquariums are to meet their goal of conservation education,
accommodating to the needs of handicapped individuals seems to be an important part of the potential effectiveness of strategies employed to meet these goals. In this paper, the messages sent and received by handicapped customers in aquarium environments will be discussed for congruent and contradictory messages and congruence between stated accommodations and actual accommodations.

Author

• Pamela Gray, Central Michigan University