Brazilian Study Finds Overwhelming Prejudice Against Disabled

From Agencia Brasil (Brazil’s government news agency). In Portuguese. Translation here.

June 2009. A national study among Brazil’s public schools has found widespread evidence of prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, place of origin, or socio-economic status.

Among the study’s findings: 98.9 percent of those surveyed said they want to keep their distance from people with intellectual disabilities, while 96.2 percent said they were wary of people with physical disabilities. Gay people got the same response from 98.9 percent of those surveyed, and 90.9 percent said they wanted to keep their distance from black people.

Jose Afonso Mazzon, study coordinator and professor of economics, administration and accounting at the University of Sao Paolo, said the research demonstrated that prejudice is disseminated by all sectors of the school community. “The fact that every individual has prejudice is generalized and alarming,” he said.

Researchers surveyed 18,500 students, parents, principals, teachers and school staff at 501 public schools across the country.

http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2009/06/19/brazil-study-prejudice/