2012 Volume 39 Issue 1 Pages 23-32
The purpose of this study was to grasp manifold university students’attitudes toward the handicapped. For this purpose, we prepared the multidimensional scales for measuring the attitudes toward people with developmental disability and people with physical disability respectively, and investigated the relationship between the attitudes toward the handicapped and the learning about handicap as well as the contact with the handicapped. In addition, we examined the relationships between what one experienced in contacting them and the learning experiences. 420 university students participated in this survey to assess their attitudes toward the handicapped and the experiences of the learning and the contact. As a result, those who had learned about people with physical disability and those who had contacted them positively answered in some factors of the scale of attitudes. Those who had both learned about people with developmental disability and contacted them positively answered in some factors of the scale of attitudes. On the other hand, those who had only contacted people with developmental disability did not positively answered in the scale of attitudes. Then, the effect of the learning upon what one experienced in contacting the handicapped differed with the features of the handicap. Therefore, we consider that the learning about handicap is related to what one experiences in contacting the handicapped, and they affect attitudes toward the handicapped.
