Faculty Attitudes and Students with Disabilities in Higher Education: A Literature Review.

Attitudes toward disabilities as a topic is widely researched when it comes to published studies concerned with disability issues. 'Attitudinal barriers' is recognized widely as an impediment to success of persons with disabilities. However, this also happens to be the least researched variable in studies done with faculty and students with disabilities in higher education. This article presents review of literature on faculty attitudes towards persons with disabilities in four different parts: attitudes as a construct, views on attitudes towards disabilities, measurement of attitude towards disabilities, and studies done at colleges and universities with faculty. The fourth section discusses various variables that influence attitudes of faculty towards disabilities. Implications for future studies are discussed. INTRODUCTION According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], (1999), the passage of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other laws such as the Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act in 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, which ensure equal access to education for individuals with disabilities, has catalyzed an increase in postsecondary enrollment among students with disabilities over the past two decades (p. 1). NCES (1999) and Thomas (2000) reported an increase from 29 percent in 1986, to 45 percent in 1994, of persons 16 or older with a reported disability that had either attended some college or had completed a bachelor's degree or higher. In 1996, roughly 6 percent of all undergraduates reported having a disability (NCES, 1999, p. 7). Over the last few decades Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and ADA of 1990 have evolved and ensured that people with disabilities who traditionally had limited access to means to making choices for themselves, are now able to speak for themselves, or have advocates for support. Different sections of Section 504 delineate some specific responsibilities of institutions in providing an equal educational opportunity for students with disabilities. Additionally, the ADA prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in the areas of employment, activities of state and local governments, transportations, and telecommunications (ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12101). Chubon (1992) reported that in terms of the sheer numbers of published disability related research studies, few topics appear to have captured the attention that attitudes toward persons with disabilities has. The authors cited reference to 'attitudinal barriers' as a common occurrence among those concerned with disability issues and attitudes have been implicated as the cause of a broad spectrum of problems that has beset persons with disabilities. The least researched variable, however, in terms of its impact on faculty willingness to provide accommodations to students with disabilities in higher education is faculty attitudes toward persons with disabilities. Fonosch and Schwab (1981) contended that there was minimal research in the area of faculty attitudes toward disabilities in higher education. Few other studies undertaken since 1981 that studied this factor in relation to success of students with disabilities in higher education (Badgett, 1993; Benham, 1995; Lewis, 1998; McCarthy & Campbell, 1993; McGee, 1989; Rao, 2002; Schoen, Uysal, & McDonald, 1987; Williamson, 2000) also expressed the contention. This article presents review of related literature in four parts. The first part describes attitudes as a construct, the second part presents views on attitudes towards disabilities, the third part focuses on measurement of faculty attitude towards disabilities, and the fourth part describes the variables that influenced faculty attitudes towards disabilities. ATTITUDES In Germany in the 1950s, an investigation of people's responses to certain classes of stimuli initiated the scientific study of attitudes. …