Attitudes Surveys

The NDA conducted public attitudes to disability surveys in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2017. The surveys covered a range of topics including knowledge of disability and attitudes to disability within the workplace, schools and in the neighbourhood.

The NDA encourages researchers to conduct further analysis and has mde the data available on the Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA).

2017 Survey

In addition to the routine analysis, the 2017 Public Attitudes to Disability In Ireland Survey report contains further analysis that looks at factors influencing the findings which adds a richness to the data not previously included in our surveys. It also includes a comparison of people with and without disability in terms of social wellbeing and participation in social activities.

2011 Survey

The 2011 Public Attitudes to Disability in Ireland Survey builds on previous surveys conducted by NDA in 2001 and 2006, and covers a range of topics including knowledge of disability and attitudes to disability within the workplace, schools and in the neighbourhood.

2006 Survey

The report of the 2006 Public Attitudes to Disability in Ireland Survey presents the findings of a comprehensive survey of public attitudes towards people with disabilities in the Republic of Ireland. This survey was conducted during 2006 and is a follow up of a similar study that was conducted in 2001.

2001 Survey

The report of the 2001 Public Attitudes to Disability in Ireland Survey presents the findings of the first comprehensive survey of public attitudes towards people with disabilities in the Republic of Ireland, which took place during 2001.

Research on Attitudes

In 2022 we conducted a review of our work on attitudes to inform whether we would continue with our 5-yearly attitudes surveys and whether they were the best approach to measure attitudes. The review comprised of three parts:

  • A Literature Review on Attitudes towards Disabled People was a key part of the review of our attitudes work. It found that a key factor influencing attitudes was contact with disabled people. This literature review updates a review conducted in 2007 that provided context from national and international literature for the 2006 attitudes survey.
  • A Literature Review on Methods Used to Measure Attitudes to Disability. This review found that direct methods to measure attitudes, for example, through the NDA surveys, can be subject to bias and that indirect methods may be preferable.
  • The ESRI through a partnership programme with the NDA conduced a survey using a number of indirect experimental methods to measure attitudes to disability including list experiments, vignettes and policy frames to determine the extent of bias in direct methods and the changes in attitudes as the trade offs in policy options are made explicit. The first of two papers was published in April 2023 entitled Experimental Tests of Public Support for Disability Policy. The second paper on the vignettes will be published later in 2023.