ATTITUDES OF CITIZENS TOWARD PEOPLE WITH DISABILITES IN CROATIA IN COMPARISON WITH EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

The work deals with the analysis of attitudes toward people with disabilities. In the introduction there is a short analysis of the concepts of disability and attitudes in general, as well as an overview of new research in the field of influence of experience and information on attitudes. In the second part, the results of the research conducted in Zagreb and Šibenik-Knin county are given, which aims at determining the attitudes of citizens toward people with disabilities. The sample consisted of 143 respondents: 129 respondents from Zagreb and 245 respondents from Šibenik-Knin county. The research showed that 2/3 of respondents knows a person with disability. 68% of respondents thinks that access to public places for people with disabilities has somewhat improved in the past 10 years and they consider local authorities and government responsible for such behavior. The results of conducted research point to a high level of awareness of citizens of the Republic of Croatia of certain types of disabilities. 95% of respondents agree that „something should be done in order to include people with disabilities into society more “. Sociodemographic characteristics such as sex, age and education have certain influence on attitudes, as was also shown in the mentioned research in the European Union.