Experiences matter: Educators’ attitudes toward disability in higher education

This study investigated 128 post-secondary educators’ attitudes toward disability at a college and a university in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The participants completed the Educators’ Attitudes toward Disability Scale (EADS) and a demographic questionnaire that included questions about their experiences with disability. There were three research questions at the heart of this study: (1) What are post-secondary educators’ overall attitudes toward disability? (2) Do demographic factors predict post-secondary educators’ attitudes toward disability? (3) Does exposure to people with disability predict post-secondary educators’ attitudes toward disability? The findings of this study suggest post-secondary educators hold overallpositive attitudes toward disability and there were very few differences observed between groups (e.g., based on age, gender, discipline, etc.). Educators’ experiences with people who have a disability, however, were positively associated with their attitudes. This factor included personal experiences (e.g., friends, family, etc.), but also professional experiences (e.g., students in their classes).

Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behavior

This chapter is a review of the relevant literature on effecting changes in attitudes and behaviors toward people with disabilities. It begins with a discussion of the goals of the book and the activities in the book. There is discussion of the relationship between attitudes and behaviors, and whether a change in one is followed by a change in the other. The core research about the bases of attitudes toward disability and attitude change is reviewed. The move in the past few decades from attention to implicit bias to focus on explicit bias is highlighted. The rationale for not using simulation exercises is provided, as well as the social underpinnings of the activities.

Assessing Outcomes

This chapter explores the possible outcomes of completing the activities in this book and revisits some of the questions raised in Chapter 2 about how to change attitudes and behaviors toward people with disabilities. Despite a desired goal of affecting implicit bias, that outcome is not guaranteed. Ultimately, the goal is to increase cultural responsivity and skill levels for therapists working with their clients with disabilities. Various measures of attitudes toward disability are reviewed (and references provided) and a link to the Harvard measure of implicit bias is included. Six ways of assessing the outcomes of doing the activities are included: the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, able-bodied privilege, and four created by the author.

Effect of Disability-Specific Education on Student Attitudes Toward People With Disabilities

Attitude is a multidimensional and complex notion that considerably empowers or limits the major life activities of humans. Health professionals’ attitudes toward people with disabilities are significant factors in the rehabilitation process. Soon after completing their coursework, the final-year students from health science meet the patients and rehabilitate them. This study accordingly aims to assess the attitude toward disability among final-year health science students before and after administering a disability-specific structured teaching program. A total of 243 final-year undergraduate health science students from medical, dental, physical therapy, pharmacy, laboratory sciences, radiology sciences, and nursing aged between 21 and 27 years participated in this study. This work employed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP) to measure attitudes among participants. The mean pre- and posttest SADP scores were 83.59 ± 15.45 and 107.83 ± 62, respectively ( p < .001). Students from medical, dental, physical therapy, and nursing showed significant positive attitudes toward disability compared with other students, whereas college students in the final year of health science generally had poor attitudes toward disability. The results indicate that the disability-specific structured teaching program is effective in improving the attitude toward disability among final-year health science students. Accordingly, the authors recommend modifying the disability-related content in the health sciences curriculum.

The Tripartite Intervention: Breaking Down Attitudinal Barriers in Education

Students with disabilities face attitudinal barriers to social inclusion. Poor attitudes toward disability can impact friendship development between students with and without disabilities and result in social exclusion. Fortunately, a body of literature exists, which suggests that educational interventions can help to enhance students’ attitudes toward disability. Such interventions, however, vary in both their approach to teaching students about disability experiences and their effectiveness. This paper presents the Tripartite Intervention, a 12-lesson intervention created for junior-level elementary students that targets cognitive, behavioural, and affective dimensions of attitude. This paper provides a high-level overview of the intervention lessons, as well as, offers readers some practical considerations for implementation. Those interested in utilizing the Tripartite Intervention for educational or research purposes are encouraged to contact the author for intervention materials and training opportunities.

Shakespeare in Japan: Disability and a Pedagogy of Disorientation

This essay describes what happened in the author’s Shakespeare classroom at Tokyo International University in the wake of a deadly stabbing attack at a residential care center for people with disabilities in nearby Sagamihara. Allison Hobgood discovers that the importance of Shakespeare in processing and responding to the Sagamihara attack was, paradoxically, his relative non-importance to her students, as compared with Shakespeare’s elevated status among U.S. undergraduates. Her model of a “feminist disability pedagogy of disorientation” decentralizes stoic analysis and mastery in favor of “immersive, deeply affective, real-time experiential learning.” By juxtaposing irreverent adaptations and selected close readings from Macbeth with frank discussions of cultural attitudes toward disability, Hobgood and her students carved out a space for Shakespeare to speak to their disorienting present, fashioning in their responses to Shakespeare a framework for more just thought and action.

Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities Among Community Centers’ Management Staff Members: A Brief Report

This study aims to examine the connections between personal demographic characteristics, knowledge about disability, contact with persons with disabilities, and attitudes toward persons with disabilities among Israeli community centers’ managerial position holders. The sample consisted of 84 managerial position holders working in different departments at Israeli community centers who completed the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities. A moderate negative connection was found between age and attitudes toward disability. No significant association was found between gender or education level and attitudes toward disability. Participants who personally knew a person with a disability showed more positive attitudes on the cognition dimension than those who have no personal connection to a person with disabilities. A moderate positive connection was found between knowledge about disability issues and attitudes toward those with disabilities. Our research concludes that both personal contact with individuals with disabilities and disability knowledge are associated with positive attitudes toward such individuals. Thus, recommendations were made to develop training for community centers’ management and employees to promote more favorable attitudes toward people with disabilities.