Perception of disability labels: Effect of attitude and stimulus presentation.

60 undergraduates aged (18–25 yrs) were classified as having high or low attitudes toward disabled persons based on responses to the Scale to Measure Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons. Ss made all possible comparisons between pairs of disabilities; half the Ss completed a general disability label matrix, and half completed a specific disability label matrix. Results suggest an interaction between attitude and type of disability label. High attitude Ss generated a perceptual space different from low attitude Ss when the disability labels were specific. When the disability labels were general, the perceptual space generated between the 2 attitude conditions was similar. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)