College students’ perceptions of persons with intellectual disability at three different ages

Studies of the perception of persons with intellectual disabilities have primarily focused on the evaluator's peers without specific reference to age or gender of the target person with intellectual disability. Using the semantic differential technique (assessments based on three independent factors: evaluation, activity and potency), 320 college students evaluated 1 person with intellectual disability, where gender (male, female) and age (3, 12, 20 years) were specified. Results indicated statistically different perceptions in the activity factor by age. The older the person with intellectually disability was, the more negative the perceptions on the activity factor. Implications of the results are discussed.