Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine police officer perceptions about persons with intellectual disabilities. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, 188 officers from three police districts in the Southeast USA were surveyed using a modified Social Distance Questionnaire. Findings – Results indicate that the majority of police officers surveyed had little or no training with regard to disabilities and that most are willing to interact socially with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Further, this study found that female officers had significantly greater positive attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities than male respondents and that white respondents were more knowledgeable about these individuals than those from minority backgrounds. Research limitations/implications – While these results are significant, it should be noted that the number of female and minority participants was relatively low. Practical implications – The paper includes recommendations for professional development for police officer and criminal justice training programs. Social implications – As individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities are increasingly integrated into society, their vulnerability to mishandling by the criminal justice system and police officers intensifies. This paper allows police officers and those within the field of criminal justice an opportunity to examine perceptions as they seek to understand how police and general societal perceptions impact the way that people interact with persons with intellectual disabilities. Originality/value – This paper fulfills a need to examine attitudes of police officers toward citizens with intellectual disabilities in the communities in which they live. These attitudes often affect the way that police officers interact with citizens and identify additional training needs to better prepare officers for diverse individuals they may will encounter.
The COVID-19 pandemic led educators to quickly pivot to continue teaching. Negative effects include exacerbated academic achievement gaps between SES groups, less access to health services, aggravated digital divides, widened academic achievement gaps, and enormously interrupted the education processes. Positive changes include educator optimism for digital portfolios, simulated lesson planning, and delivery; supports for social-emotional engagement; seamless transitions to remote learning; and seeing recalcitrant individuals revise and adapt teaching formats, relationship-building, increased quality online education, and motivation to try innovations. Relational humanity is an integral part of the faculty-student relationship; showing students they matter as humans and deepening relationships with them is a humanitarian act. The pivot forced variations, created disequilibrium, celebrated innovations, and yielded creative delivery models. Faculty are now re-examining their content and delivery in the spirit of creating an improved student experience for all modalities of instruction.
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