Attitudes and empathy of youth towards physically disabled persons

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the attitude and empathy of youth towards physically disabled persons. This study followed a quantitative paradigm. The sample comprised of 100 participants (Male = 50; Female = 50) who were under the age range of 18–25 years. Purposive sampling was taken to gather the data. Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire were administered on the participants. All the responses were entered on the SPSS software which was analysed through descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson's correlation. Findings of this study showed that both males and females had negative attitude towards physically disabled person. Furthermore, males and females were equally empathetic towards physically disabled person. Consequently, there were no gender differences in the attitude and empathy of youth towards physically disabled persons. Also, significant and positive correlation was seen between the two constructs, i.e., attitude and empathy. These results indicated a need of destigmatization about disability especially physical disability in the society.

Keywords

• Attitude
• Empathy
• Disability
• ATDP
• Social psychology