Pastoral Attitudes toward Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

It has been indicated through research and by personal testimony that although some barriers for inclusion for those with special needs have been broken down since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, one of the most significant barriers still remains - negative and often subtle attitudes. Positive attitudes toward individuals with special needs have been shown to facilitate inclusion while negative attitudes hinder inclusion. Since the ADA law exempted churches from the mandates for inclusion, many have found participating in churches a significant challenge. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitude measurement score of senior pastors as it relates to awareness of special needs populations, types of special education ministries in the churches, previous life experiences with persons with developmental disabilities, and the pastor's training through formal and informal courses of instruction related to developmental disabilities. The research explored potential factors which shape pastoral attitudes and result in either barriers or facilitators to intentional special needs ministries. Data was collected through an online survey format and the results were used in a statistical analysis to facilitate the answering of the research questions. The sample population for the research included the 1296 senior pastors of Southern Baptist churches in South Carolina who have published church and/or personal email addresses in the South Carolina Baptist Annual Report 2008. Through statistical analysis of the survey results, precedent literature review concepts concerning the value oflife experiences with individuals with developmental disabilities can have a positive impact on positive attitudes. The pastors overall had positive attitudes toward individuals with developmental disabilities, but most significantly in the realm of the behavioral domain. Strong statistically significant correlations could not be drawn between having a positive attitude toward individuals with special needs and special needs ministry among the pastor's surveys. There were definite trends which support the important roles of experience and education being made available to pastors in order to potentially bring positive changes concerning inclusion in local churches. Keywords: attitude measurement, special needs ministry, pastoral attitudes, individuals with developmental disabilities, church special education ministry