DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2017.v05i08.027

Pages: 995-999

Recent times have witnessed an emergence of schools to cater for specific disabilities. This could be attributed to society’s realization that persons with disabilities are capable of learning. Cognizant of the benefits of education to persons with disabilities, it was felt that although they could benefit from education, this had to be offered in separate exclusive schools. While the education offered in the special schools is determined by people who deem the children incapable of learning the same concepts as their non-disabled peers, identifying these children back in the society still remains a problem. Are parents aware of the existence of these cases in their environments? And if they do, what perception do they have of the same? Guided by the Social Model of Disability, as advanced by Rieser (2002), this paper discusses the findings of a study that sought to establish the level of awareness parents have towards the concept of disability in the society and how they perceive disability. With a target population of 134 parents, 40 parents were selected by simple random sampling to participate in the study. Data collection was done using interview schedule to ensure parents who could not read have the questions asked in the language they understood. The collected data was then analyzed by the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The findings revealed that parents had a positive attitude towards learners with disabilities and that there was no provision of quality teaching and learning resources. This paper is aimed at creating awareness among parents of children with disability and through this recognition, the rightful measures can be taken to cater for the disabled children.