Disability rights: Attitudes of private and public sector representatives

This study examined attitudes toward disability rights among an ethnically diverse sample of 133 private and public sector representatives. The strength of these attitudes was assessed with an experimental manipulation, whereby respondents obtained negative and neutral presentations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Participants completed measures of 1) demographic, organizational, and experiential information, 2) acculturation to mainstream United States culture, 3) knowledge of the ADA, and 4) attitudes toward disability rights. Individuals from the public sector, presented with the neutral ADA presentation, and with a high level of ADA knowledge were more positive toward disability rights than their counterparts.