[Attitudes towards the disabled: how is a change possible? (AUTHOR'S TRANSL)]

On the basis of short definitions of the terms "attitudes" and "prejudices", a report is made on important studies carried out under the aspects of "lack of information", "social distance" and "social labelling". Available evidence indicates that the functional problems of prejudices towards the disabled and, consequently, the reasons for their origin have not been sufficiently examined. Overall societal approaches based on the Marx theory cannot yield satisfactory results. On the basis of an interactive approach, prejudices are characterised by manifestations of disturbed interpersonal communication and interaction. The consequences of these facts, which are relevant to the change of attitudes, are summarised in ten theses. These should be evaluated in a practical adult education programme.