Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between age,gender, education, self-esteem, empathy and level of contact on attitudes towards people with disabilities. It was expected that males showed more negative attitudes towards people with disabilities than females, that a correlation would be found between empathy and positive attitudes, and that subjects who have frequent levels of contact with people with disabilities will respond with more positive attitudes. A survey methodology study via questionnaires was conducted and administered to a convenience sample of 150 students from Dublin Business School. The study collected data as measured by a Demographic Questionnaire, the Contact with Disabled Persons Scale (CDP) (Yuker & Hurley, 1987), the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) (Spreng, 2009), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and the Attitudes toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP form B) (Yuker, Block & Young, 1970). Results showed that males did not hold more negative attitudes towards individuals with disabilities, that there was a strong positive correlation between empathy and positive attitudes towards people with disabilities and that student's level of contact with disabled persons did not correlate significantly with positive attitudes
