Children's acceptance of others with disability: the influence of a disability-simulation program.

Elementary school is a transitional and impressionable period for any child. In inclusive classroom settings, children with disabilities may experience the challenges of acceptance and integration into peer relationships. The experience of children with disabilities in such classrooms can be positive if their classmates are accepting and open. One way to encourage these attitudes is by increasing awareness through disability-simulation. This study evaluates an existing school program, whose goal is to increase acceptance of others with disability. We surveyed students to assess the influence of the program. An adapted acceptance scale was distributed to students before and after participation in the program. Our hypothesis was that student acceptance would increase after participating in the program. Additionally, we hypothesized that physical, visual, and auditory disabilities would be easier for students to understand, making acceptance scores for these disabilities higher than those for a learning disability. We report changes in acceptance using group means. Our results reveal that post-survey responses showed higher acceptance than pre-survey responses, especially for auditory disabilities. Other significant findings include differences in attitudes between the two schools and differences based on prior experience with someone with a disability. By evaluating the effectiveness of this type of program (whose efficacy has been controversial in the literature), this study can provide teachers, administrators, genetic counselors, and parents with a better idea of how to address children's attitudes towards peers. In our study, the effectiveness of promoting understanding through disability-simulation has proven its worth to improve children's acceptance.

Declaración de consenso sobre el diagnóstico prenatal del síndrome de Down / No disponible

Recientemente se han aireado las preocupaciones mostradas por partede las organizaciones que abogan por la dignidad de las personas con síndrome deDown sobre el cribado y diagnóstico prenatal, particularmente en respuesta a los Boletinessobre Práctica nos. 77 y 88 emitidos por el American College of Obstetritians andGynecologists. El Programa de Consejo Genético de la Universidad de Carolina del Sur(PCG-UCS) decidió que había llegado la hora de convocar a representantes de las organizacionesimplicadas para discutir de forma abierta las percepciones y malentendidossobre las pruebas prenatales en cuanto se relacionan con el síndrome de Down,con el propósito de identificar áreas de consenso sobre las que se pueda seguir elaborando.El documento que acompaña es el resultado de dos días de conversaciones y untestimonio de lo que puede ocurrir cuando el objetivo es explorar un terreno comúnpara conseguir un bien superior(AU)