Public attitudes towards and understanding of people with disabilities

During this reporting period, a literature review on the attitudes of college students and their understanding of people with disabilities has been undertaken and completed. The survey: Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS) was identified and the Institute for Human Development was granted permission by the authors to use the measure for the purposes of Goal 3, Objective 3.1. The proposed study was submitted to the Institutional Review Board at Northern Arizona University and approved on 06/13/2008 for one year. The survey has been posted online through the Department of Psychology (PSY 101 classes). Undergraduate classes in the College of Education will also have access to the measure and it will continue to be available to NAU students through the Spring 2008 academic semester. The literature review and posting of the online measure was in collaboration with Andrew Gardner, Ph.D. and a graduate student from the Department of Psychology. Mary McClellan, Ph.D. in the College of Education (COE) has also assisted in the dissemination of the measure to faculty for their undergraduate students’ participation.

For more information, contact Andrew.Gardner@nau.edu