ONE OF THE KEY ELEMENTS of Social Role Valorization (SRV) theory is the importance of interpersonal identification between societally valued and devalued people. Yet, there are certain devalued groups or individuals with whom interpersonal identification is a major challenge to others. There can be many reasonsfor this; one reason, the focus of this article, is when the people in question cannot or do not communicate in the ordinary ways, such as those who do not speak or whose speech is so idiolectal or peculiar to the person that most others have great difficulty comprehending it.
Many people, even very gregarious ones, often feel quite awkward when in the presence of non-communicating people, and sometimes excruciatingly so, to the point that they may actively avoid such social contact or seek to remove themselves from it as quickly as possible.
Having such feelings is an understandable response, especially when people are not accustomed to being in these kinds of situations, but it can also happen even when they are. In other words, people can still experience discomfort being with non-communicating people with whom they live or work or have other regular contact, as well as with those whom they do not know.