High School Students' Contact with and Attitudes towards Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Kuwait

Abstract

This study aims to investigate demographic variables, contact-related correlates, and attitudes towards persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) among Kuwaiti high school students (N = 700). The study focuses on variables that few studies have investigated and attempts to raise awareness among social workers to advocate for the inclusion of people with IDD and reform social policy that would improve the inclusion in society. The adapted Mental Retardation Attitude Inventory-Revised (MRAI-R) was used. A set of demographic variables and known predictors of attitudes to people with IDD were tested in multivariate analyses. Except for age, differences in global attitudes were found to be a function of gender, knowing persons with IDD, intimacy, frequency of contact, intensity of contact, and knowledge of IDD. Higher levels of Contact-Intensity and higher age were associated with more positive attitudes on the Integration-Segregation, Social Distance, Private Rights, and Subtle Derogatory Beliefs subscales. These findings support the development of legislation aimed at promoting successful inclusion that contributes to positive attitudes of students towards a person with IDD.

Adolescents with Disabilities

“…As a result, greater acceptability and involvement of individuals with disabilities across various activities, including participation in physical activity (Murphy and Carbone 2008; U.S. Department of Education 2011), will not only increase the overall health of individuals with disabilities, but will also allowing interactions to occur between adolescents with disabilities and their typically developing peers outside of academic settings. Encouragingly, a variety of programs promoting these engagement opportunities exist (i.e., Aggies Elevated 2015;Langtree 2015;Think College 2016;Unified sports 2016).…”

“…The complexity of the construct extends beyond the subcategorizations of disability (e.g., intellectual, developmental, cognitive, physical) to reflect not only the features of an individual's body and/or mind, but also the interaction between these features and the individual's environment, including cultural implications associated with a given disability within the society in which an individual lives (Vygotsky 1978). The societal and cultural views of disability can take on additional meaning during the adolescent years (see Al-Kandari 2015;Morin et al 2013;Scior et al 2013;Siperstein et al 2011).…”

School inclusion and attitudes toward people with an intellectual disability

“…Although substantial research has investigated the effect of contact upon attitudes toward people with IDs, and the impact of contact on school‐aged children (Al‐Kandari, ; Rillotta & Nettelbeck, ), little research investigates the specific impact of contact at school. Research with an Austrian sample of children suggests that voluntary contact at school with students with IDs is related to positive attitudes, though contact was measured through observation alone, and long‐term attitudes were not considered (Schwab, ).…”

Η Συμπεριληπτική Εκπαίδευση Στην Ελλάδα

“…Επιπρόσθετα, χρήσιμη θεωρείται η διεξαγωγή μελέτης όπου συμπεριλαμβάνεται δείγμα μεγάλου ηλικιακού εύρους (από την προσχολική ηλικία ως τη σχολική και εφηβική ηλικία), με πολλαπλές και μακροχρόνιες μεθόδους αξιολόγησης προκειμένου να ανακαλύψει η ερευνητική κοινότητα αν τα επίπεδα αποδοχής αυξάνονται ή μειώνονται με σταθερότητα καθώς τα παιδιά μεγαλώνουν (Nabors, Lehmkuhl, & Warm, 2004) και να διερευνήσει τις στάσεις τους απέναντι σε συνομηλίκους με ειδικές εκπαιδευτικές ανάγκες (Al-Kandari, 2015).…”

“…Διαφορές παρατηρήθηκαν ανάμεσα στις στάσεις των μαθητών που έχουν κάποιο φίλο με ειδικές ανάγκες και αυτές που αναπτύσσουν οι μαθητές που δεν έχουν κάποιο φίλο με ειδικές ανάγκες σε όλες τις διαστάσεις. Η εξοικείωση και η επαφή με παιδιά με ειδικές ανάγκες συνδέεται με πιο θετικές στάσεις (King, et al, 1989;Al-Kandari, 2015), παρουσιάζεται το ενδεχόμενο προαγωγής των σχέσεων (King, et al, 1989) (Furnham & Gibbs, 1984). Σε άλλη έρευνα (Blackman, 2016) (Rosenbaum, Armostrong & King, 1988).…”