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In our society, persons with disabilities are often subject to stereotyping and they may give rise to feelings of fear and rejection. These reactions refer to attitudes, that is, the more or less positive evaluations of an object (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). Scientific literature has been greatly interested in attitudes—toward persons with disabilities (Breen, 2018; Palad et al., 2016) and the education of students with disabilities (Desombre et al., 2019; Donath et al., 2023)—and the extent to which those attitudes are likely to predict inclusive behaviours (Ajzen, 1991). This purpose of this article is to take stock of the tools available to measure explicit attitudes toward persons with disabilities in various contexts. This systematic literature review was carried out using the Prisma method and the databases of APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles and the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection; it groups together articles published in French and in English between January 2000 and June 2021. In total, 77 articles out of 837 were selected for review. The analysis of these articles allowed us to identify 22 tools to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. Comparisons between these tools are their uses are discussed in this article. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)

Inclusive Education emphasizes equal opportunities for all students by reducing or eliminating barriers that hinder participation and learning, encompassing cultural, social, practical, and political dimensions. In this context, the development of positive attitudes towards disability is a key component for the success of inclusive educational practices, particularly in adapted physical education. Following a prior analysis of the impact of academic curricula on attitudes toward disability, the need to implement training programs focused on attitudes toward disability becomes evident. The aim of this study is to analyze how a training program, with a specific focus on attitudes toward disability, affect the attitudes among university students. A quasi-experimental approach with a control group was employed to evaluate the impact of the training. A total of 137 University students from Extremadura, across Physical Activity and Sport Science and Early Childhood Education programs within the same educational department, participated in this study. The Spanish Attitudes Toward People with Disabilities Scale for Professionals was administered to students at the beginning, after the theoretical intervention, and after having a guided contact with people with disability. Results revealed improvements in attitudes in the social relationships and normalized life dimensions, as well as in the total score, particularly among students from Early Childhood Education. No significant changes were observed in the intervention program dimension. Within-group analysis indicated significant longitudinal improvements in normalized life for both experimental groups, Sports Science and Early Childhood Education students, and in the total score for Early Childhood Education students by the end of the intervention. These findings highlight the importance of targeted training interventions in promoting inclusive attitudes, especially when direct contact with individuals with disabilities is incorporated.

Odnos ljudi iz okoline prema osobama s invaliditetom uvijek je bio složen, pri čemu se izvjesne razlike mogu uočiti s obzirom na to radi li se o potpuno nepoznatim ili pak bliskim osobama. Navedeno se može promatrati kroz prizmu različitih modela invaliditeta te nekoliko teorija poput teorije kontakata i modela o sadržaju stereotipa. Cilj je istražiti odnos ljudi iz okoline prema osobama s invaliditetom. U istraživanju je primijenjen kvalitativni pristup, a podaci su prikupljeni metodom analize arhivske građe. Jedinice analize bile su 49 studentskih osvrta o radu s ukupno 51 osobom s invaliditetom. Rezultati pokazuju kako nepoznate osobe mogu iskazivati pojačanu pažnju, osjetljivost na potrebe, ali i neugodu te neprimjereno ophođenje prema osobama s invaliditetom. Prijatelji i poznanici dominantno se odnose vrlo pozitivno prema osobama s invaliditetom, no primijećene su i izvjesne ambivalentnosti. Odnos članova obitelji prema osobama s invaliditetom uglavnom je obilježen prihvaćanjem i pružanjem pomoći koja ponekad, uz prezaštićivanje može narušavati autonomiju osoba s invaliditetom. Dobivena saznanja ukazuju kako ljudi iz okoline prema osobama s invaliditetom ne iskazuju samo sažaljenje i pružaju pomoć kako se to stereotipno očekuje nego su ti odnosi znatno slojevitiji i sadržajniji te mogu biti pozitivni, ambivalentni, ali i vrlo negativni. The relationships between people from the surrounding community and people with disabilities has always been complex, and specific differences can be seen with regard to whether one is considering entirely unknown or known/close individuals. These differences can be observed through the prism of various models of disability and theories such as the Contact Theory and Stereotype Content Model. The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between people from the surrounding community and people with disabilities. The research adopted a qualitative approach, and the data were collected using secondary data analysis. The units of analysis were 49 students’ reviews on their work with a total of 51 people with disabilities. The results show that unfamiliar people can exhibit increased attention and sensitivity to needs, as well as discomfort and inappropriate behaviour toward people with disabilities. Friends and acquaintances show predominantly positive behaviours toward people with disabilities, although certain ambivalences have also been observed. The relationship of family members and people with disabilities is mainly marked by acceptance and caregiving, which sometimes, alongside overprotection, could undermine the autonomy of people with disabilities. Obtained knowledge indicates how people from the surrounding community not only show remorse and provide the assistance that is stereotypically expected toward people with disabilities but also show a significantly layered and meaningful relationship that can be either positive, ambivalent, or quite negative.

A cognitive/affective/behavioral intervention was implemented to change attitudes of college students towards individuals with disabilities. College swim team members were randomly assigned to intervention (N = 16), and no-intervention control groups (N = 17), with intervention group students and 8 Special Olympics swimmers working together to pursue swimming-related goals in 4 sessions over a 6-week period. Results indicated that on a revision of the Symons, Fish, McGuigan, Fox, and Akl (2012) attitudes inventory, the intervention group participants displayed significant increases in positive attitudes from pre- to posttest, whereas the control group participants did not. Written participant comments corroborated this improvement. A key element in the improved attitudes was the increased comfort level experienced by the college swimmers in their interactions with the Special Olympics swimmers.

This study examines the public stigma of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by their school-aged peers, focusing on both explicit and implicit attitudes. The twofold aims were to provide a broader picture of public stigma and to explore age-related changes in attitudes. Students completed an explicit measure of the public stigma and an implicit measure of attitudes after watching a video displaying children with ASD vs. typically developing (TD) children. Both measures showed more negative perceptions towards children with ASD compared to TD children. However, while explicit attitudes improved with age, implicit attitudes remained constantly negative. This finding suggests that both explicit and implicit attitudes should be considered when promoting an inclusive climate at school.

In this review, we explore how intersectionality has been engaged with through the lens of disability critical race theory (DisCrit) to produce new knowledge. In this chapter, we (1) trace the intellectual lineage for developing DisCrit, (2) review the body of interdisciplinary scholarship incorporating DisCrit to date, and (3) propose the future trajectories of DisCrit, noting challenges and tensions that have arisen. Providing new opportunities to investigate how patterns of oppression uniquely intersect to target students at the margins of Whiteness and ability, DisCrit has been taken up by scholars to expose and dismantle entrenched inequities in education.

Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending university in increasing numbers. The importance of acceptance from peers and integration into the university have been recognized as key factors for success. We examined university students’ knowledge and attitudes towards students with ASD, underlying factors that contributed to such attitudes, and whether attitudes changed across two cohorts 5-years apart. The later cohort demonstrated greater knowledge and more positive attitudes toward students with ASD compared to students in the first cohort. However, knowledge was not found to be a significant predictor of attitudes and many students who were knowledgeable about ASD still reported negative attitudes toward participating in university and classroom based activities with students with ASD.

This study examines the underlying mechanisms of ableism and disablism in the assessment of student learning in higher education. Globally, higher education institutions rely strongly on assessment accommodations (e.g., extra time in tests) to ensure disabled students’ participation in assessment. This is also the case in Finland. Even though research on disabled students’ experiences of assessment has repeatedly shown that both assessment and assessment accommodations cause barriers for disabled students’ inclusion, critically oriented research on this topic has been scarce. In this study, the frameworks of ableism and disablism are used to unveil how assessment is predominantly designed for “the ideal, able student” and how disabled students are framed as “the Other” through assessment. This work is based on an analysis of 139 disabled students’ experiences of assessment and assessment accommodations as collected through an open-ended, institution-wide survey at a Finnish university. The findings reveal the profound role of assessment in excluding and marginalizing disabled students as unfit to take part in the testing cultures of academia. The accommodation model is shown to hold disabled people responsible for their own exclusion. Disablism is identified in students’ experiences of outright discrimination, such as teachers denying access to assessment accommodations when they are officially granted. This study offers a novel, critical means of discussing assessment from the viewpoints of diversity and inclusion. It also proposes future trajectories for anti-ableist assessment approaches that understand diversity as enriching, rather than obscuring, assessment.

To understand the experiences of the disabled in academia, a fully accessible and inclusive workshop conference was held in March 2018. Grounded in critical disability studies within a constructivist inquiry analytical approach, this article provides a contextualisation of ableism in academia garnered through creative data generation. The nuanced experiences of disabled academics in higher education as well as their collective understandings of these experiences as constructed through normalisation and able-bodiedness are presented. We show that disabled academics are marginalised and othered in academic institutions; that the neoliberalisation of higher education has created productivity expectations, which contribute to the silencing of the disabled academics’ perspectives and experiences due to constructions of normality and stigmatisation; and that it is important to enact policies, procedures, and practices that value disabled academics and bring about cultural and institutional changes in favour of equality and inclusion.