Toward Promoting an Inclusive Society: Exploration of the Influence of Religiosity on Attitudes Towards Individuals with Intellectual Disability

In sub-Saharan African context, the daily lives of people are shaped by their cultural experiences. Religion is vital to the people as it permeates all spheres of life as well as culture. However, the cultural interpretation of disability affects inclusion in society and thus, the need to rely on community practices to change attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disability. Among the disability groups, those living with intellectual disability are least accepted and at high risk of discriminatory practices. Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior was adopted as study lens to understand the contribution of religiosity in the variance in attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disability. Thousand and twenty (N = 1020) participants completed the Abrahamic Religiosity Scale and Community Living Attitude Scale for Intellectual Disability. SPSS was used to compute means, multivariate analysis of data and hierarchical regression. The findings supported the hypothesized relationship between religiosity and attitude toward individuals with intellectual disability. The study concludes with a call on policymakers to partner religious body in efforts toward promoting attitudinal change in respect of individuals with intellectual disabilities.