Family Members of People With Disabilities' Explicit and Implicit Disability Attitudes

Purpose: Family members of people with disabilities may hold a unique position in that they may both internalize and reinforce ableism, and work to fight it through empowerment and resistance, making them a useful group for study to elicit understandings of disability and disability attitudes. The aim of this study was to explore the explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) attitudes toward people with disabilities by family members of persons with disabilities. Research Method: To do so, we analyzed secondary data from 180,701 family members, comparing their explicit and implicit disability attitudes and examining correlates with attitudes. Results: Findings from our study suggest that although family members do not consciously believe they have negative attitudes, they unconsciously prefer nondisabled people. Conclusion: More work is necessary to reduce prominent and systemic negative attitudes about disability as most family members still had negative attitudes about people with disabilities. Impact and Implications Findings revealed family members hold unconscious negative attitudes against people with disabilities, suggesting more work is needed to reduce the negative attitudes family members have about disability. It is important to recognize that although they may have the best intentions, family members' decisions about their loved one with disabilities are not necessarily attitude-neutral, but instead may be influenced by internalization of negative disability attitudes. The implications of these attitudes may be particularly impactful for family members who hold a lot of decision-making authority, such as parents of young children with disabilities, or guardians.