School inclusion and attitudes toward people with an intellectual disability

Abstract

AbstractPeople with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are often subject to prejudice and negative attitudes within mainstream society. Personal contact has been found to be one of the most important factors in improving negative attitudes. Governmental policy changes in the UK in the 1990s facilitated the inclusion of children with IDs into mainstream education. The current study aimed to investigate whether the contact that students had with peers with IDs, through the inclusion of students with IDs in mainstream schools, is related to attitudes toward people with IDs. Two hundred and fortyseven undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire which measured attitudes toward people with IDs, and both the quality and quantity of contact with people with IDs in varying contexts. Correlational and regression analyses show that more contact at school is significantly associated with positive attitudes toward people with IDs, when controlling for contact in other contexts. Findings suggest that those who had a more, or higher, quality of contact were significantly more likely to have more positive attitudes in adulthood. These findings suggest that inclusion policies may help to encourage more positive attitudes toward people with IDs in the long term. Further research is necessary to replicate these findings, and to further these findings by investigating the specific experiences at school that may encourage more positive attitudes.