Attitudes toward individuals with visual impairments and the impact of personality traits

This study aims to investigate the attitudes of individuals without disabilities toward persons with visual impairments and the impact of personality traits on attitudes. A total of 814 adults, aged 18 to 80 years, participated in two surveys. A questionnaire was used to record the demographic and individual characteristics of the participants, along with the (a) Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS) and (b) The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Scale. The analyses revealed that (a) the frequency of contacts was a significant predictor of participants’ scores on cognition subscale, (b) the educational level was a significant predictor of participants’ scores on affect subscale, (c) the gender was a significant predictor of participants’ scores on cognition subscale, and (d) the age was a significant predictor of participants’ scores on affect and behavior subscales. Participants’ scores were higher when the frequency of contacts was higher, the age of participants was higher, and the educational level of participants was higher. Moreover, females exhibit more positive attitudes than males. Furthermore, individuals with greater neuroticism, like individuals with lower extraversion, appeared to have more negative attitudes toward persons with visual impairments.