Attitudes of the Citizens of Kanazawa and Its Vicinity towards the Physically Challenged

Abstract

Public attitudes towards disability and the resulting prejudicial behaviour affects the lives of physically challenged persons. This article explores the attitudes of residents of a provincial city in Japan towards physically challenged persons. It involved measurement of attitudes on the 20-item, Form O of the `Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale'. The 211 respondents consisted of 142 female and 68 male non-physically challenged adults with a mean (and standard deviation) age of 47.30 (15.98) years. The respondents were asked to answer certain statements about physically challenged people and to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with each of the statements on a 6-point Likert scale. The mean ATDP score of all respondents was 68.84. The highest mean ATDP scores were the 30's age group, followed by 20's, 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's age groups. Those with a more positive ATDP were either pursuing a helping profession or had experienced such work. The males and females showed no difference in ATDP. Physiotherapists should be aware of the gap in perception between the ideal attitude that health professionals would like society to have and the reality. They should, therefore, endeavour to promote a `barrier-free' mind among members of the community.