Attitudes of college students toward people with disabilities

The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes of college students toward individuals with disabilities. The instrument used was the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP), which was adapted to yield two additional scales. The words “mental illness” and “alcoholic” were substituted for “physically disabled”. The test was administered to undergraduate and graduate students in counseling and psychology. Analysis of Variance was performed. The results showed a significant gender effect with females having more positive attitudes toward individuals with physical disabilities and mental illnesses. Both groups, males and females, had more positive attitudes toward individuals with physical disabilities than alcoholism or mental illnesses. Level of education was not significant in either group