An Investigation of Attitudes toward Work Adjustment of the Blind

Abstract

A scale to measure attitudes toward work adjustment of the blind was developed and administered to 400 subjects. Blindness of the case presented, the relative social status of the occupation held, and the amount of public contact required in the course of the occupation were manipulated in case studies rated by the subjects. Half the subjects were requested to give their own opinions in the ratings; the others were asked to give their best guess of the opinions of most other people. Differences between the ratings of male and female subjects were also investigated. Non-blind cases were rated more favorably in terms of work adjustment than were blind cases, at the .05 level of significance. The relative social status of the occupation held proved significant at the .001 level—the higher the level of the occupation, the more favorably was the work adjustment considered. There is reason to speculate that differences due to some of the other variables manipulated may have been masked by a generally favorable view of the raters toward all the cases.