A study of attitudes toward employees with disabilities

Abstract

The study examines the attitudes of the non-disabled employees toward coworkers with disabilities in competitive employment settings. The study seeks to determine if the attitudes of co-workers toward employees with disabilities facilitates their integration into the workplace or poses barriers to their inclusion. The type of study is descriptive and is conducted within the framework of a cross-sectional survey design. The data included in the study consists of information from 225 employees who work with co-workers with disabilities who responded to a questionnaire about attitudes toward individuals who have disabilities. The data was gathered by the use of two standardized questionnaire instruments, the Attitude Toward Disabled Person Scale (ATDP) and the Contact with Disabled Persons Scale (CDP). The findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between employees' attitudes and the variables contact, gender, knowledge about disabilities, knowledge about the ADA, and type of employment. The study can potentially contribute to the social work knowledge base by providing information about the attitudes of non-disabled employers toward coworkers with disabilities, to social work practice by helping social workers better serve clients with disabilities in the work setting, and to social policy by examining the consequences of the implementation of the ADA as it seeks to promote the integration of persons with disabilities in the workplace.