Attitude, Legislation, and Litigation

Attitude, Legislation, and Litigation

Introduction

The attitude of faculty towards students with disabilities is widely researched throughout the world. Different improvements have been made in the legislation and teaching methods. These changes have proved as to be a developmental strategy towards education of disabled students. These legislative changes had also played its role towards changing of attitude and mindset of educators also. As per the analysis of United States Department of Education, [NCES] National Centre for Education and Statistics (1999) and other departments and laws, there has been a great increase in the enrollment of students with disabilities. The legislation has its influence over the attitudes of educators and now they are preparing themselves in a better way to prepare the disabled students better citizens. Not only this but there also some laws which abides the teachers and other education staff to give equal rights to the disable students also.

Attitude towards disabled students

A study which was done in 1998 examined 6 different sources of bad attitude towards the people who have disabilities. These were defined as systems which clarify all the possible sources, roots and determinants of negative attitude. The system includes Socio-cultural psychological system, affective cognitive system, conscious and unconscious mind, system which deals with past and present experience situation, internally and externally originated sources, theoretical and empirical system (Shaila, 2004).

Socio-cultural and Psychological

This focuses on social and cultural background and values which are triggered by exclusive developmental and psychodynamic experiences.

Affective Cognitive

The sources of bad attitudes also depend upon the cognition of a person or a group of people. This relates to the emotional reactions and intellectual determinants.

Conscious and Unconscious

These reactions relate to those actions which an observer is aware of and those actions which the observer is not aware.

Past and Current experiences

These reactions are derived from the experiences of the early age in contrast with the experiences which a person is currently facing.

Internally and externally originated

These are the determinants which vary from those which are related to the non-disabled individual observer such as his personality and demographic correlates and the characteristics which are associated with those of a disabled person.

Theoretical and Empirical

These determinants vary from the theoretical aspects and the empirical research findings (Yell, 1998).

Change in attitude

A great change in the attitude of people has been observed towards the disabled students in the past few decades. When research was made to find out the reason ...