General knowledge and attitudes of young adults without disabilities towards visual impairment and visually impaired people in Hungary

Abstract

Background and objectives: Our research examines the knowledge and attitudes of young adults without disabilities regarding visual impairment and visually impaired people.
Method: The 32,000-word text corpus created during 10 semi-structured interviews was analysed by topic and response type.
Results: Young adults primarily understand the term ‘visually impaired people’ to mean blind people. Their attitude is fundamentally positive. Nevertheless, some of their responses indicate ambivalent feelings and stereotypical beliefs.
Conclusions: It is important to shape attitudes, clarify concepts related to disability, break down stereotypes, and shape attitudes towards disability and disabled people in young adulthood. Higher education institutions should play a greater role in achieving these goals.
Keywords: non-disabled young people, general knowledge, attitude, visual impairment, visually impaired people