Prejudices against, and social responsibilities towards, the disabled.

Common prejudices disguised in various forms against the disabled are discussed in this paper. Specifically, it was investigated whether socially responsible behaviors can be stimulated by providing information about the life conditions of the disabled. Two hypotheses were proposed and tested. Alterations in the nondisabled participants’ perception of the disabled were evaluated through analysis of the results with regard to age, level of education, and income. Furthermore, relations between the independent variables and the tendency to participate in social activities which can be regarded as socially responsible behaviors were investigated. Results show that Turkish society could pay more attention to the questions of how life conditions of the disabled can be improved and how they can be enabled to participate more in social life. In particular, members of society should revise aspects of their perception of the disabled that are incorrect or ill informed.