Public knowledge of intellectual handicap

Abstract

There is a paucity of research investigating public knowledge of intellectual handicap. Moreover, the few published studies on the topic have all been conducted on American populations. Consequently, little is known about the extent and accuracy of Knowledge of intellectual handicap among members of the New Zealand public. The present study represents an attempt to investigate this question. A secondary aim was to determine whether certain respondent characteristics (age, sex, S.E.S. and contact with an intellectually handicapped person) bear any relationship to Knowledge in a representative, Wellington group. A questionnaire, developed for the purpose of the study, was administered by telephone interview to 200 adults living in private households in the Wellington area. The households comprised a random sample, drawn from the Wellington telephone directory. The results showed that an average of 89% of the respondents' answers were correct. Furthermore, at least 75% of the sample gave correct answers to 11 of the 12 items testing Knowledge of intellectual handicap. The variables of sex, age and S.E.S. were found to be significantly related to knowledge of intellectual handicap. However contact with an intellectually handicapped person was not significantly related to knowledge. The findings of the present study were compared with previous research on the topic. It was argued that the high overall level of knowledge observed in the present study may have been largely due to the elimination of a number of the methodological weaknesses which appear to have produced an artificially high frequency of incorrect responses in earlier research. It was concluded that in general, members of the Wellington public possess a very high level of knowledge about intellectual handicap.