ERIC Number: EJ1071833
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jul
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1874-785X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Student Attitudes toward Impairment and Accessibility: An Evaluation of Awareness Training for Urban Planning Students
Lewis, John L.
Vocations and Learning, v2 n2 p109-125 Jul 2009
Within the urban planning profession, designing for the needs of people with impairments has rarely been a significant feature of planning theory and instruction. Given the role of urban planners in affecting the opinions of policy-makers and the public, the prevalence of negative and misinformed attitudes among planning professionals toward impaired populations has been highlighted as requiring study. This paper reports on the effectiveness of awareness training with regard to its influence on the attitudes of urban planning students toward the needs of people with impairments and accessible design. Using an established attitude assessment instrument (the Attitudes Towards Disablement Scale), pre and post-awareness training data were collected from 112 urban planning students. Results from the present study suggest that awareness training can result in significant attitude changes, independent of the student's gender or prior familiarity with impairment. The paper concludes with recommendations and caveats for planning education and research.
Descriptors: Student Attitudes, Disabilities, Urban Planning, Training, Consciousness Raising, Attitudes toward Disabilities, Pretests Posttests, Program Effectiveness, Attitude Change, Gender Differences, Familiarity, Surveys
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A