Mobility is a fundamental human right: Factors predicting attitudes toward self-directed mobility

Emergent disability studies research is interested in the community's views on how disability, including self-directed mobility, influences social and environmental policies. We anticipate that individuals' alignment with disability models, or sets of assumptions about the cause, nature, and treatment of disability, will influence attitudes about self-directed mobility. Self-directed mobility is defined as mobility that is controlled by an individual and may include walking or assisted ambulation through the use of mobility technology such as prosthetics, walking aids, manual wheelchairs, or motorized wheelchairs.

The purpose of this study was to explore how demographic factors, contact with people with disabilities, attitudes toward people with disabilities, and alignment with social or medical models of disability predict attitudes toward self-directed mobility.

1545 students at a public university completed demographic questions, and measures of disability attitudes, disability model orientation, and self-directed mobility.

The predictors explained 16.60% of the variance in participants' attitudes toward self-directed mobility (R² = 0.166, F(7,1537) = 43.9, p < .001). Significant predictors included: female gender (β = -0.14, p < .01), more positive attitudes toward people with disabilities (β = -0.30, p < .001), and social model orientation (β = 0.59, p < .001).

Participants who more strongly agreed with disability as a social construct (social model) were in stronger agreement that self-directed mobility is a fundamental right. Future research extending to rehabilitation professionals is warranted.