The investigation of attitudes towards persons with disabilities requires innovative experimental methods and psychometrically sound instruments that are reliable, valid, and multidimensional. Without such instruments, it will not be possible to obtain conclusive answers to important research questions concerning the relationship between these attitudes and the acceptance and integration of persons with disabilities into society.

In this article, the authors discuss 3 broad domains of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability. These include the dynamics (basic concepts, psychosocial responses, and coping strategies) typically associated with the process of adaptation to disabling conditions, assessment of adaptation as evidenced by 6 commonly used measures, and intervention strategies applied to facilitating coping with and adaptation to chronic illness and disability.

The Scale of Attitudes toward Disabled Persons (SADP) was developed as a contemporary, brief, easy to administer and score, and psychometrically sound instrument to provide a valid, reliable, and multidimensional measure of attitudes toward disabled persons as a group. The 24 item SADP provides a total score as well as three factorially derived subscale scores. Data are presented which indicate satisfactory item characteristics, reliability, and internal consistency for the total scale and subscales. Detailed analyses revealed the subscales to be homogeneous, specific, and reasonably independent. The results of several correlation analyses support the construct validity of the SADP, while a criterion-related validity coefficient of .54 was obtained with a reduced version of the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (Amp) scale Form-O. Factorial congruence of the two scales support the use of the SADP as a measure of the . primary dimensions of attitude toward disabled persons, and for the investigation of questions concerning their formation, structure, correlates, and modification.

This article provides supporting evidence for the use of a revised version of the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming (ORM) scale. Analyses of data produced by a test of the revised scale, the Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI), indicated satisfactory item characteristics and adequate reliability and homogeneity. Initial support for ORI's construct validity was demonstrated by the results of regression analyses relating ORI scores to respondent sociodemographic and experiential data and scores on the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP). The ORI should prove useful to researchers evaluating the attitudes of educators toward the integration of students with disabilities into general education classrooms.