Defining Inclusion: Faculty and Student Attitudes Regarding Postsecondary Education for Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

A research team asked professors and students at one big U.S. university how they feel about students with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) attending the same classes.

They used an online survey. The paper only describes attitudes; it does not test any teaching tricks or supports.

The authors list themes such as “benefits,” “concerns,” and “needed supports,” but they do not report which side wins or if opinions are mostly good or bad.

In short, the campus community has mixed feelings, and the study stops at describing them.

Ahrens et al. (2011) asked Chinese middle-schoolers the same attitude question and also found hesitation, showing the worry starts early and crosses cultures.

Xie et al. (2026) moved from description to explanation: when Chinese elementary teachers receive emotional support and good training, their attitudes improve. The U.S. campus survey could borrow that model to see if professor support predicts warmer views.

Dudley et al. (2019) give ready-made IDD screener items for national surveys. Using those questions in future campus polls would let Sievers et al. (2020) line up their data with country-wide numbers.

You now know that mixed feelings, not open doors, greet students with IDD in college. Use this as your baseline. Ask your own faculty allies what supports would make them say “yes” to inclusive classes, then pilot one small support—maybe a shared note-taker system—and track if attitudes shift.