Hierarchy of Response to Handicaps

Abstract

This study compared the relative attitudes toward various types of exceptionality among three groups of elementary and intermediate-grade children ( ns = 36, 41, and 79) and one group of adults ( n = 1030). It also investigated the stability of these rankings over 13 years and in different parts of the United States. The hierarchies of preferences for these two groups of southwestern children were highly correlated, as were those preferences for these children and adults in the east. A comparison of the ranks obtained in 1987 with those reported in 1974–75 showed a stable hierarchy over time and geographical locations.