A study examined the communication problems between nondisabled and disabled persons. A questionnaire was created based on a theoretical model of intercultural communication involving three levels of analysis: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systematic. One hundred and two nondisabled and 40 disabled subjects reacted to a helping situation depicted by the questionnaire between a nondisabled helper and a disabled recipient. Results indicated that nondisabled persons may feel compelled to act as they do in order to maintain a positive self-concept. On the other hand, disabled persons are compelled to be dependent in order to fulfill societal and relational demands. One effect of this asymmetric power relationship is a phenomenon called learned helplessness; the disabled person is taught to be dependent and expect personal failure. Further, the disabled persons are in a no-win situation: they can either rebel against social expectations and risk alienation or acquiesce to helping behavior and confirm their dependency. Also, compared to nondisabled subjects' perceptions, disabled subjects felt there were greater situational demands, relational constraints, and cultural prescriptions for the disabled person's behavior. In other words, they felt disabled persons' behavior is governed by social standards while nondisabled persons' behavior is governed by personal standards. (A three-page bibliography and tables of data are appended.) (SRT)