Perceptions of adolescents toward teachers with physical challenges
The purpose of this study was to consider the impact of a physically challenged teacher's disability on the students in the classroom. Attitudes of junior and senior, male and female high school students toward their physically challenged teacher were analyzed. It was hypothesized that the attitudes of male and female students in both grade levels would reflect that having a teacher with a disability had affected their lives in a positive fashion. A questionnaire was developed using a 5-point Likert-type scale to assess the attitudes of students in grades 11 and 12 in four North Texas high schools. Responses to the six questions most directly related to the hypothesis were compared according to male students by grade, female students by grade, all students by grade, and all students by gender. The six questions analyzed by the above variables were: (a) Does your teacher keep the classroom under control? (b) Is your teacher able to handle physically violent behavior of students? (c) Do you think you have learned to handle life better because you have had a disabled teacher? (d) Does the disability have a negative affect on the way you feel toward your teacher? (e) Are you more helpful and cooperative because your teacher has a disability? and (f) Are you better able to understand disabled people (in society) because of your teacher? The study clearly showed that the 11th- and 12th-grade students surveyed held positive attitudes toward their physically challenged teacher. The majority of students expressed confidence in the teacher's ability to control the classroom and manage behavior, with seniors showing more confidence than juniors, and females more confidence than males. Most students responded that having a teacher with a disability had affected them in a positive way, with seniors being more positive in their responses than juniors. All students, particularly female juniors, felt that they were better able to understand individuals with disabilities, senior males were more positive in their response. The main hypothesis of the study was confirmed.
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