Attitudes of Fortune 500 corporate executives toward the employability of persons with severe disabilities: a national study.

Executives (N = 341) responsible for hiring decisions in Fortune 500 industrial and service corporations returned a mail questionnaire measuring their attitudes toward persons with severe disabilities and their employability. Responses indicated that attitudes were favorable to persons with disabilities and to their employability, both in terms of advantages for the individual and lack of disadvantages for others in the work setting. Significant differences in attitudes existed among subgroups of executives. Executives who had contact with persons with disabilities in the corporate work world had more positive attitudes than did executives who did not have such experiences.