Prejudice Toward Disability at the University: Design of an Assessment Tool

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Division D Section 1 Roundtable Topic: Prejudice and Assessment of Students With Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify the underlying dimensions in prejudice towards disabled persons, which constitutes a barrier to inclusive higher education. In the first stage, through qualitative techniques, statements were extracted with the three discourse levels and the category strategies proposed by Vargas (2013) and a first version of the tool with 70 items was developed. The Exploratory Factor Analysis, with a sample of 551 members of three universities in Costa Rica and Spain, allowed to identify four dimensions underlying the prejudice. These findings constitute an important contribution towards the design of inclusive policies in university education.

Authors

• Alicia Gurdián-Fernandez, University of Costa Rica

• Marie-Claire Vargas, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica

• Carmen Delgado, Salamanca Pontifical University

• Andres Sánchez Prada, Pontifical University of Salamanca