An international study of public contact with people who have an intellectual disability.
Special Olympics and hands-on volunteering are the fastest ways to give the public real, attitude-changing contact with people with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Thomas et al. (2021) asked adults around the world how often they spend time with people who have an intellectual disability.
They used an online survey in 13 languages. Anyone 18 or older could answer.
The team also asked what kinds of activities created that contact.
What they found
One in four adults said they meet someone with ID often.
People who volunteered or joined Special Olympics events were the most likely to report this close contact.
More contact went hand-in-hand with feeling more at ease around people with ID.
How this fits with other research
Bao et al. (2017) looked at every past study on Special Olympics. They found the evidence for benefit is thin, yet R et al. show SO events still drive real-world contact. The papers do not clash: one warns science, the other counts people.
Giesbers et al. (2020) asked Arab college students the same kind of questions. They learned that quality of contact, not how often it happens, shapes attitudes. R et al. add the global view and point to concrete places like SO where that high-quality contact can start.
Droogmans et al. (2024) listened to support staff and named two keys to a good moment: mutual attunement and emotional payoff. Their diary work backs up why volunteer settings such as SO work: they give space for those same keys to happen with the public.
Why it matters
You can boost community inclusion tomorrow. Invite typical peers to volunteer at your local Special Olympics meet or unified sports club. One shared shift can spark the kind of contact that R et al. linked to warmer attitudes. Track who shows up and ask them later how they feel about people with ID; you will be building the next data point.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: People with intellectual disability (ID) are often socially isolated, and many experience stigma and discrimination. Increased contact with the general public is thought to overcome prejudices. This large-scale international study had three main aims: to determine the type and frequency of contact that the general public has with people with ID; to identify the personal characteristics of those who have greater contact; and to examine the public's level of comfort at the prospect of having contact with people with ID. METHOD: Self-completed online questionnaires were administered to nationally representative panels of respondents in 17 countries; totally 24 504 persons. Multivariate analyses were used to identify respondents more likely to have had frequent personal contact with persons with ID from those with infrequent or no contact and those respondents who were most comfortable at meeting a person with ID. RESULTS: Internationally around one in four of the general population reports having frequent personal contact with people who have an ID although this varied from 7% in Japan to 46% in Panama. The principal forms of contact were through friendships, neighbours or extended family members. Over all countries, volunteering and engagement with Special Olympics were the two main predictors of frequent personal contact followed by employment in the education, health or social care field, being a parent of children under 18 years, playing sports and being employed. People who reported frequent personal contact were also more comfortable at meeting a person with ID. CONCLUSIONS: This international dataset provides a baseline against which public contact can be compared across countries and changes monitored over time. The findings suggest ways in which greater contact can be promoted and making the public more comfortable at meeting people with ID.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2021 · doi:10.1080/17430437.2020.1830971