Successful implementation of any inclusive policy for students with disabilities is largely dependent on educators' attitudes. Ensuring equality and inclusion is a general goal of education and is also very important in the frames of higher education. This paper reviews the literature regarding attitudes toward students with disabilities and focuses especially on attitudes of teacher trainers in teaching colleges. The paper clears also the main concepts involved in the present approach, namely it presents definitions of the disability and also of the attitudes. These are all based on references to the actual legislation and rules, valid both in Israel and also in other countries. The paper offers evidence of more positive attitudes towards students with disabilities, including teacher college students, but no evidence of acceptance of comprehensive inclusion. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge and emphasizes the need for strategic interventions and policy in order to improve inclusion of students with disabilities in all aspects of life.
Higher education has an important role in determining the quality of one's life, and it has the potential of creating a significant change in many aspects, including financial and social status of students with disabilities. This paper presents the findings of a multi-stage study conducted prior to the implementation of an intervention program in a teachers college in Israel. The aim of the research was to study the attitude of the faculty members of the college on accessibility on campus and teaching accessibility. The research also examined the faculty's attitude on the chances of students with disabilities to succeed in higher education, in the teaching program, as well as in finding a job, specifically in the teaching profession. Participants were 91 faculty members. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed specifically for this research, based on previous surveys in the field. Faculty members believed that students with disabilities had a high chance of succeeding in the teaching program, and a moderate to high chance of successfully finding a job. Faculty members who were personally acquainted with a person with a disability were more willing to grant accommodations to students with disabilities. The faculty members also consider physical accessibility a priority. The findings of this study were used to develop a focused intervention program to increase college faculty's awareness of the various kinds of disabilities that exist and the rights to which students with disabilities are entitled, and to teach faculty members methods for enhancing the accessibility of their teaching
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