Teacher attitudes toward normal and exceptional groups

A social distance scale was administered to 57 teachers in a small rural midwestern school district in order to assess their attitudes toward normal and exceptional groups. Findings revealed a hierarchy of preference for the different groups. Normal and gifted were the most accepted, followed by perceptually handicapped and physically handicapped. Least accepted were mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, and delinquent. An analysis of eight different interpersonal situations revealed that, for all situations except marriage, teachers tended to accept several handicapped groups, including physically handicapped, speech handicapped, and perceptually handicapped. Mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, and delinquent groups were rejected for all interpersonal situations.