Changing attitudes about disability: The impact of the ‘Accessible Community’ program

Summary: We examined whether participation in the ‘Accessible Community’ program (an Israeli nationwide community program), changed social work students’ attitudes towards people with disabilities. A total of 150 social work students in their first year were divided into task groups focusing on variety activities for and with people with disabilities. The students attended an academic course in community social work, and completed an ‘Attitudes towards Persons with Disability’ questionnaire (ATDP) prior and subsequent to participation; 58.67% (N = 88) completed the questionnaire before the project, 79 also filled it in afterwards (89.7%). Findings: Two subscales of ATDP for positive and negative items were composed in order to extrapolate more specific data. Participation in the project did not lead to any significant overall change in attitude. Yet, negative attitudes were significantly associated with previous volunteering and prior negative attitudes, while positive attitudes were significantly associated with prior positive attitudes. Applications: It is important to identify amongst those working in the helping professions their prior attitudes toward people with disabilities in order to provide them with significant corrective experiences during their practical training.