Disability and Mobility Do-it-Yourself Co-Op

Emerging evidence suggests medical and social models of disability, or sets of assumptions regarding the cause and treatment of disability, and contact with people with disabilities, influence attitudes about people with disabilities. This study tests disability models and contact as an avenue for disability attitude intervention. Three psychology undergraduate classes were examined. Education + contact focused on social construction of disability, challenged the medical model, and was taught by an instructor with a disability (n = 52). Contact did not include disability content but was taught by an instructor with a disability (n = 45). Control did not include disability content and was taught by an instructor without a disability (n = 53). Participants completed measures of disability models and attitudes at the beginning and end of each 10-week course. Results showed medical model beliefs were associated with negative attitudes while social model beliefs were associated with positive attitudes. Participants in the education + contact group reported greater increases in positive attitudes and social model beliefs, and greater reductions in medical model beliefs at posttest than participants in the contact or control groups. The contact group also showed greater increases in positive attitudes and social model beliefs and greater reductions in medical model beliefs compared to the control group. Change in medical model beliefs mediated the relationship between course and attitude change. This is the first study to demonstrate that disability models can be intervened upon and can explain disability attitude change. Such interventions may prepare psychology students to interact with this large minority group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)