Employers' and nonhandicapped co-workers' perception of mentally retarded adults' work skills for the service industry environment in the state of Delaware

A study was conducted utilizing input gathered from 57 supervisors/employers and 178 nonhandicapped co-workers from the three (3) counties of the State of Delaware to determine if a difference does exist between these two groups' attitudes toward the work skills of mentally retarded adults in view of three factors--Level of Retardation; Level of Employment Services; and Level of Satisfaction.;Measurement of these factors was measured based on a set of selected work skills determined through a review of the literature and specifically those cited in two survey instruments--Survey of Supervisory Practices and Employee Attitude Survey--developed by the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center; School of Education; Virginia Commonwealth University (Attention: Michael S. Shafer, Ph.D.). Moreover, these selected work skills from both surveys served as the linkage for gauging if an interrelationship between employers'/supervisors' and nonhandicapped co-workers' perceptions (attitudes) toward the mentally retarded workers exist.;The 56 work sites surveyed were selected because they had Division of Mentally Retardation clients working at these sites. These mentally retarded workers were provided supportive employment services through private special agencies via contractual agreements with the Division of Mental Retardation. Hence, due to confidentiality requirements, each director or assistant director for each agency was trained by the researcher on the dissemination and collection of the surveys. The instruments were presented to 78 supervisors/employers and 266 nonhandicapped co-workers as determined by the directors of the agencies as being individuals who directly supervised or worked in close proximity to their clients, who are mentally retarded. The data was then input into a computer aided statistical package for analysis.;The statistical analysis revealed that in all eight selected work skills supervisors/employers and nonhandicapped co-workers did not view the work skills of mentally retarded workers differently than nonhandicapped co-workers. Hence, it was concluded through the Linkage Tables that supervisors/employers and nonhandicapped co-workers showed no difference in how they viewed the work skills of mentally retarded workers when considering either the level of retardation, for the mentally retarded worker in close proximity to them, or the level of employment services provided that individual.