Willingness to Pay, Familiarity and Political Attitudes: The Case of Integrating People with Intellectual Disabilities

Background: Integrating people with intellectual disabilities into the community has become a major goal in improving society in general. Our study adds an important layer to discussions of how to achieve this goal. Method: We examine both the willingness to integrate people into the community and their willingness to pay for this integration. Using a representative sample of 813 Israeli respondents, we consider two factors in these attitudes: familiarity with the issue and people's political attitudes. Results: We found that most people are willing to integrate people with intellectual disabilities into the community and some people are willing to pay for this integration. Those who are familiar with people with intellectual disabilities and those from the left side of the political map are more willing to pay to achieve this goal. Conclusions: Familiarity and political attitudes matter in the willingness to pay to integrate people with intellectual disabilities into the community.