1118 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Assessing awareness and perceived enforcement of disability legislation in Jordan: A sociological perspective Enas M Oliemat Special Education Department, Queen Rania Faculty for Childhood, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan. Email: enass@hu.edu.jo ABSTRACT Article History Received: 10 April 2025 Revised: 14 July 2025 Accepted: 15 August 2025 Published: 29 August 2025 Keywords Disability legislation Disability rights Jordan Law enforcement. Disability legislation is a substantial factor that contributes to secure the individuals’ rights with disabilities. Recently, there has been a great interest in the awareness and enforcement of the legislation. This study assesses the awareness and enforcement of disability legislation from the perspectives of parents and carers of students with disabilities in Jordan. A descriptive quantitative approach was employed. A six- dimension questionnaire was developed based on the literature and disability legislative texts. These dimensions consisted of fourteen items that measure participants’ awareness and perceptions of numerous aspects of the legislation. The self-administered questionnaire was completed by 319 participants who were selected according to the purposive sampling technique. Statistical analysis revealed that parents and carers perception of disability legislation in Jordan is generally positive although they have a moderate level of awareness of this legislation. The participants perceived that the enforcement of disability law in Jordan is moderate, specifically concerning their children rights in education and healthcare. Male and female participants had similar perceptions while more educated participants had more positive perceptions of the legislation. The results call for reviewing the national laws to ensure optimal enforcement in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Contribution/Originality: This study fills the significant gap in the existing literature that the perceptions of carers and parents of students with disabilities regarding disability legislation in Jordan were not given attention. It offers an overview of many aspects of disability legislation within a local sociocultural context that includes legislation awareness and enforcement. 1. INTRODUCTION Laws about people with disabilities have evolved; they started to protect their rights and provide a suitable quality of life for them (Gordon & Tavera-Salyutov, 2018). The declaration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008 was a milestone in the improvement of disability services provision and policies (Jackson, 2018; Mrozek et al., 2014; Smith, 2024). This convention was partially drawn from the Americans with Disabilities Act (Appelbaum, 2016). However, ratifying the CRPD by most countries worldwide has endorsed the formulations of laws and policies, which in turn promoted the lives of individuals with disabilities (Aucante & Baudot, 2018; Shogren, Luckasson, & Schalock, 2017). These legislations facilitate various aspects of their lives. For example, accessible environment, reasonable accommodation, mainstreaming education, social integration, healthcare, and employment (Byrne, 2022; Harpur, 2012; Hashemi, Wickenden, Bright, & Kuper, 2022; United Nations, 2008). Humanities and Social Sciences Letters 2025 Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 1118-1129 ISSN(e): 2312-4318 ISSN(p): 2312-5659 DOI: 10.18488/73.v13i3.4386 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5771-7155 mailto:enass@hu.edu.jo https://www.doi.org/10.18488/73.v13i3.4386 Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1119 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. The worldwide disability rights movement had an impact on Jordan, which resulted in a variety of laws and changes aimed at creating legal frameworks that defend the rights of people with disabilities (Rahahleh et al., 2021). Considering this issue in the international literature is overlooked, the study aims to fill this gap by investigating the perspectives of parents and carers of students with disabilities. It provides an overview of many aspects of disability legislation within the local cultural and social context that includes legislation awareness and enforcement. However, the carer in this study refers to the person who is most responsible for childcare or who most looks after the child, which means that he/she may not be the biological parent of the child. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW The majority of countries in the world include provisions protecting the rights of people with disabilities in their written constitutions. However, it is questionable if these countries have taken significant steps to ensure that the rules are followed. This in turn would let individuals with disabilities enjoy their rights in their actual lives. Anthony Aning, Zaaba, and Gunggut (2014) stated that the most critical stage of legislation phases is the implementation process where the authoritative bodies take formal decisions into effect. The existing literature has examined many aspects related to disability legislation. Some researchers focused on specific rights of people with disabilities, while others concentrated on the process of monitoring and enforcing all laws. For example, Buchner et al. (2021) noted that a substantial number of students with intellectual disabilities were still enrolled in special schools despite their right to receive an education in inclusive environments in seven European countries. Alquraini (2013) discussed the legislation in terms of special education services provision in Saudi Arabia. He identified the powerful and weak points in these legislations compared with the American act that is well- known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). There were many fulfilling elements that are similar to the IDEA, but they were unimplemented for many reasons. For instance, lack of an accountability system and unawareness among parents of children with disabilities regarding their children’s rights (Alquraini, 2013). Alem (2020) investigated the challenges that face the implementation of legislations on employing females with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. She found that the related legislations were not seriously considered by the employers. The main reasons behind this were cultural norms and local communities’ attitudes towards women with disabilities. Malik et al. (2021) reviewed several Indonesian legal documents to examine the protection of individuals with disabilities rights, their analysis showed that there were many evidences in these documents referring to the government effort to firmly secure the lives of individuals with disabilities, including their right to independence, resilience, and citizenship. In a qualitative study, Rahahleh et al. (2021) interviewed fifteen people with disabilities to explore their experiences of practising their political rights. The participants enjoyed poor participation in the political activities and experienced several challenges, such as a lack of appropriate accommodations, environmental challenges, and communicational issues. In Vietnam, Bogenschutz, Im, Liang, and Quyhn Luong (2021) examined the situation of individual with disabilities referencing the CRPD components. Their thematic analysis suggested that the application of the core principles of CRPD was still limited in Vietnam. Individuals with disabilities experienced stigma, exclusion, discrimination, unequal opportunities, and inaccessible environments. Similar findings were reported in Egypt by Ganiem (2021) when he reviewed the current and past national constitutions to assess the safeguards that was setup by these constitutions to secure the rights of individuals with disabilities. Furthermore, in Algeria, Bezat (2022) studied institutional empowerment of individual with disabilities between the CRPD and national law. She concluded that changing local laws to comply with the CRPD is insufficient to empower people with disabilities. There were no clear actions by the formal institutions nor effective procedures to monitor and enforce the CRPD (Bezat, 2022). Several people with disabilities and those concerned with disability issues were interviewed by Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1120 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Morgan (2023) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The researcher reported that although the UAE has ratified the CRPD, there was a poor model of enforcement and accountability of disability legislation, specifically in accessing higher education and equal employment opportunities. Studies have been conducted to assess how well-informed parents of disabled people are about disability laws. For example, Kuppusamy, Narayan, and Nair (2012) found that their participants had a moderate awareness level of their children’s rights. Recently, Majumdar, Chauhan, Preenja, and Bhardwaj (2025) questioned 357 carers of individuals with disabilities. Their analysis revealed that carers were significantly lacking knowledge and awareness about rights, policy, and welfare services regarding disability. This research indicates that most countries have enacted robust legislation to maintain the rights of individuals with disabilities. These legislations were inspired by the CRPD. Although these countries have initiated several attempts to make the legislation be implemented. The reviewed literature proves that individuals with disabilities are still not enjoying their rights as stipulated in their national laws. However, the existing literature misses the situation in Jordan where the health, education, and socio-cultural systems are different. 3. DISABILITY LEGISLATION IN JORDAN It is estimated that the prevalence of disability in Jordan is 13% ranging from mild to severe (General Population and Housing Census, 2015). However, according to the Jordanian Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Act No. 20 for the Year 2017), a person with a disability is defined as “a person who has long-term physical, sensory, intellectual, mental, psychological or neurological impairment, which as a result of interaction with other physical and behavioural barriers may hinder performance by such person of one of the major life activities or hinder the exercise by such person of any right or basic freedom independently’’ (Article, 3a). Jordan was among the pioneering Arabian countries to establish disability-related legislation (Rahahleh et al., 2021; Rutherford, 2007). Since 1989, there have been several attempts to maintain the rights of individuals with disabilities by enacting a modern law. The starting point was passing the Law for the Welfare of Disabled People which was initiated in 1989 and agreed upon in 1993 (No. 12 for the year 1993). This law was then changed by the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (No. 31 for the year 2007). In 2017, the new Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Act No. 20 for the Year 2017) was approved by the parliament house and brought into force. This movement of refinement and enhancement of disability legislations resulted from ratifying international and Arabian conventions and was influenced by Western countries legislation (Benson, 2020; Hyassat, 2013; Rutherford, 2007). For example, ratifying the CRPD and its optional protocol and the Arab Agreement on the Rehabilitation and Employment of the Disabled. Jordan's primary national authority on disability issues is the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCRPD), which was founded in 2007. This formal institution is responsible for advocating implementing the law, forming policies, offering support, facilitating services, and coordinating with the institutions involved in delivering services for individuals with disabilities in Jordan (Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2025). However, although the establishment of HCRPD has significantly contributed to the improvement of disability services in Jordan and the law identified the roles of all authorities in implementing the law. There are evidences that disabled people are still not enjoying their full rights (Alkhatib, AlSaaydeh, & ElKhatib, 2021; Rahahleh et al., 2021). 4. PROBLEM STATEMENT The rights of people with disabilities and their families are protected by Jordanian law. However, they face challenges in accessibility and availability of services (Hyassat, 2013; Rahahleh et al., 2021). The law sets up their rights of full inclusion in public life, education, employment, entertainment, healthcare, accessible environment, and participation in decision-making (Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2017). However, Dew Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1121 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. et al. (2014) argued that policymakers should take feedback from service providers and service users by listening to them carefully, which would improve the formulation and implementation of these policies. Therefore, this study explores the perceptions of parents and carers of students with disabilities regarding many aspects of disability legislation in Jordan. The study attempts to answer the following questions: 1. How do parents and carers of students with disabilities perceive disability legislation? 2. What is the level of awareness of disability legislation among parents and carers of students with disabilities? 3. How do parents and carers of students with disabilities assess the enforcement of disability legislation? 4. Are there differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to the respondents’ gender, educational level, and region? 5. METHOD The study employs a descriptive quantitative approach which is deemed appropriate to assess the awareness and enforcement of disability legislation from the perspectives of parents and carers of students with disabilities. A self-administered questionnaire was developed by the researcher to collect the data from the target participants in Jordan. 5.1. Participants A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit the participants based on the criteria that they had a child with a disability or care for a child with a disability. 112 males and 207 females from three regions in Jordan including north, mid, and south participated in this study (see Table 10). Their children age ranged from 6 to 16 years old. They had different types of disabilities including sensory, motor, intellectual, learning, and autism spectrum disorders. However, the participants were recruited from 62 schools across the country: 17 from the north region, 33 from the mid, and 12 from the south. For the participants’ anonymity, the names of these institutions have been disappeared in this paper. Table 1. The number and percentage of the participants according to their gender, educational level, and region Variables Career Number Percentage Gender Male 112 35.1 Female 207 64.9 Educational level Diploma or less 129 40.4 Bachelor 122 38.2 Postgraduate 68 21.3 Region North 106 33.2 Mid 142 44.5 South 71 22.3 5.2. Instrumentation The process of developing the questionnaire was based on reviewing related literature as well as reviewing the articles of Jordanian Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Act No. 20 for the Year 2017). The researcher issued initial items to explore the parents and carers perceptions of the current legislation that relates to the rights of individuals with disabilities in Jordan. The initial version of the questionnaire was sent to various academic staff who are experts in the related field. They were asked to review and refine the questions. After considering the referees’ comments, the instrument was administered to 10 parents of students with disabilities who were requested for their feedback. These steps have generated the final version of the questionnaire which contained two main parts. The first part includes information about the participants’ characteristics, such as gender, educational level, and place of residence. The second part consists of 40 positive statements covering six dimensions that represent key aspects of the law on the rights of persons with disabilities, such as awareness and knowledge of the law (6 items), law enforcement in educational institutions (7 items), law enforcement in health services (7 items), Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1122 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. public and private sector support (7 items), communication and coordination between institutions (6 items), and satisfaction with the law (7 items). Parents and carers’ perceptions on the questionnaire items were rated by a 5- point Likert scale (5) strongly agree, (4) agree, (3) undecided, (2) disagree, and (1) strongly disagree. The questionnaire items were written and distributed in the Arabic language as it was the participants’ native language and some of them found it difficult to read English easily. 5.3. Validity and Reliability The process of constructing and refining the questionnaire especially the judgment of its items by the academic staff can be considered as a form of face validity (Bryman, 2012) and seeking feedback from piloting the questionnaire on 10 respondents was a way of establishing content validity (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha statistic and the split-half technique was checked to ensure reliability and the statistical results were satisfactory (see Table 2). Table 2. Reliability indicators of the research instrument Dimensions Cronbach’s alpha Split-half Awareness and knowledge of disability legislation 0.912 0.914 Law enforcement in educational institutions 0.940 0.878 Law enforcement in healthcare services 0.958 0.923 Public and private sectors support 0.876 0.823 Communication with and coordination between institutions 0.893 0.875 Satisfaction with the law 0.910 0.905 Total 0.977 0.892 5.4. Procedure After obtaining ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee at the university where the researcher works (Ref: FC250019), parents and carers were accessed by contacting the principals of the educational institutions where students with disabilities were enrolled. The researcher explained the study’s aims and procedure and provided information sheet for families along with the consent form. The principals then sent these materials to the families through their children and asked them if they wished to participate in the study. Additionally, an electronic version of the questionnaire was sent to the principals through WhatsApp as an alternative way of administering the questionnaire based on the participants’ preference. This procedure ended up with 319 parents and carers who filled out the questionnaire by both ways electronically and on paper. 5.5. Data Analysis The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 was used to analyze the collected data. Several statistical analyses were employed to test the data, such as means and standard deviations for the items, the dimensions, and the total score of the questionnaire. An independent sample t-test and a one-way ANOVA were used to examine the differences between the means for the six dimensions according to the study variables and to test the post comparisons Scheffe’s method was conducted. 6. RESULTS First question: How do parents and carers of students with disabilities perceive disability legislation? Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1123 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. Table 3. Means and standard deviation of parents and carers’ perception of disability legislation arranged in descending order No. Items Means SD Order Level D1 Awareness and knowledge of the disability legislation 3.64 1.07 5 Moderate 1 I am aware enough that there is disability legislation in Jordan. 3.80 1.28 19 High 2 I know the legal rights of my child with a disability. 3.78 1.20 17 High 3 The information about the rights of individuals with disabilities is easily available. 3.49 1.34 37 Moderate 4 Related institutions organize campaigns to increase people’s awareness of the disability legislations. 3.53 1.31 34 Moderate 5 All current disability legislation texts are easy to understand. 3.57 1.31 32 Moderate 6 The new disability legislations are relevant to the current context. 3.64 1.30 29 Moderate D2 Law enforcement in educational institutions 3.64 1.10 4 Moderate 7 Professional teachers are available in schools for students with disabilities. 3.71 1.37 25 High 8 Teachers adjust the curriculum to suit students with disabilities when needed. 3.77 1.27 20 High 9 Inclusive education is accessible for students with disabilities. 3.61 1.24 31 Moderate 10 Reasonable accommodations are offered to students with disabilities in the schools. 3.48 1.26 38 Moderate 11 Schools offer equal opportunities to students with disabilities. 3.63 1.19 30 Moderate 12 The law acts are being implemented by the educational institutions. 3.65 1.32 28 Moderate 13 Educational institutions offer continuous rehabilitation services for students with disabilities. 3.65 1.31 27 Moderate D3 Law enforcement in healthcare services 3.56 1.15 6 Moderate 14 Healthcare facilities offer high quality services to individuals with disabilities. 3.50 1.34 35 Moderate 15 Occupational therapy is available in accordance with the law for individual with disabilities. 3.47 1.30 39 Moderate 16 The standard of healthcare services for individuals with disabilities is satisfactory. 3.50 1.34 36 Moderate 17 Healthcare facilities are accessible to individuals with disabilities. 3.67 1.22 26 High 18 Accessible diagnosis services are available to individuals with disabilities. 3.38 1.24 40 Moderate 19 Healthcare professionals serve individuals with disabilities in accordance with the law. 3.53 1.37 33 Moderate 20 Individuals with disabilities access healthcare at no charge. 3.89 1.19 13 High D4 Public and private sectors support 3.95 0.88 2 High 21 Public and private sectors treat individuals with disabilities equally. 3.95 1.23 9 High 22 There is effective coordination between the public and private sectors to implement disability legislation. 3.95 1.12 8 High 23 Public and private sectors offer financial support to enforce the law. 3.71 1.25 24 High 24 Public and private sectors offer physical accommodation to individuals with disabilities. 3.90 1.22 12 High 25 Public and private sectors respond to the complaints of individuals with disabilities. 4.08 1.04 4 High 26 Government policies are positively translated into reality. 3.88 1.14 14 High 27 Formal and informal institutions attend to the needs of individuals with disabilities. 4.17 1.08 1 High D5 Communication with and coordination between institutions 3.96 0.96 1 High 28 There is effective communication between schools and local authorities to ensure implementation of the law. 4.09 1.11 2 High 29 Schools offer opportunities to participate in making decisions related to my child's education. 3.94 1.23 10 High 30 Communication with related institutions is easily accessible. 4.09 1.16 3 High 31 Related institutions listen to my suggestions on the rights of my child. 4.01 1.06 6 High 32 Regular meetings are organized between parents and officials to discuss the implementation of law. 3.85 1.27 16 High 33 Effective communication methods are available for reporting 3.76 1.30 22 High Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1124 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. No. Items Means SD Order Level problems related to implementing the law. D6 Satisfaction with the law 3.87 0.94 3 High 34 The law meets my child’s needs. 3.99 1.14 7 High 35 The law ensures the dignity of individuals with disabilities. 4.03 1.14 5 High 36 The law protects my child’s right. 3.80 1.30 18 High 37 The law achieves a high level of justice for individuals with disabilities. 3.76 1.17 21 High 38 The process of improving the law is ongoing. 3.92 1.06 11 High 39 The law meets my expectations. 3.86 1.13 15 High 40 The law is reasonably implemented. 3.72 1.23 23 High Total 3.77 0.90 High As shown in Table 3, the overall mean of the questionnaire items is high (3.77) which means that parents and carers perception of disability legislations in Jordan is generally positive. The highest means are for the dimensions “public and private sectors support” and “communication with and coordination between institutions” while the lowest mean is for “law enforcement in health services.” The item “formal and informal institutions attend to the needs of individuals with disabilities” has the highest means (4.17) in contrast to the item “accessible diagnosis services are available to individuals with disabilities” which achieved the lowest mean (3.38). Second question: What is the level of awareness of disability legislation among parents and carers of students with disabilities? The mean of the first dimension is moderate (3.64). This means that although the participants were completely aware of the existence of disability legislation. Their level of knowledge and information about this legislation was moderate. Table 3 shows that the highest mean is for the item ,“I am aware enough that there is disability legislation in Jordan” while the lowest mean is for “the information about the rights of individuals with disabilities is easily available.” Third question: How do parents and carers of students with disabilities assess the enforcement of disability legislation? The analysis revealed that parents and carers perceived the implementation of disability legislation as moderate in both trajectories of educational and healthcare services. The above table shows that the mean of the dimension “law enforcement in educational institutions” is 3.64. Fourth question: Are there differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to the respondents’ gender, educational level and region? Table 4. Differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to gender Note: *Significant at the 0.05 level. 6.1. Gender Although Table 4 shows slight differences in the means of parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to their gender, the result of conducting an independent sample t-test determines that gender has no effect on the differences in parents and carers’ perceptions. Male and female participants have similar perceptions of disability legislation. Table 5. Means and standard deviations of parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to educational level Variable Level N Means SD Educational level Diploma or less 129 3.692 0.933 Bachelor 122 3.715 0.907 Postgraduate 68 4.009 0.770 Scale Gender N Means SD T- test T DF Sig Total Male 112 3.765 0.896 -0.047 317 0.962 Female 207 3.770 0.899 -0.047 228.527 Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1125 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. 6.2. Educational Level Calculating standard deviations and means uncovered visible differences in parents and carers perceptions of disability legislation according to their educational level (see Table 5). For statistical confirmation of the significance of these differences, a one-way ANOVA test was conducted, and the results are set out in Table 6. Table 6. Differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to educational level Sources DF SS F P Between groups 2 2.514 3.169 0.043 Within groups 316 0.793 Total 318 The result of the one-way ANOVA test (see Table 6) shows that there are statistical differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislations according to their educational level as the p-value (0.043) is less than 0.05. A Scheffe’s test for post comparison was calculated to detect the source of these differences (see Table 7) which found that post graduate parents and carers had better positive perceptions than less educated parents and carers. Table 7. Scheffe's test for post-comparisons between means of parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to educational level Educational level Mean difference P Postgraduate Diploma 0.316* 0.018 Sig Bachelor 0.293* 0.030 Sig Note: *Significant at the 0.05 level. Table 8. Means and standard deviation of parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to the region. Variable Level N Means SD Region North 106 3.789 0.804 Mid 142 3.627 0.973 South 71 4.019 0.818 6.3. Region Table 8 shows that there are visible differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to their region. For statistical confirmation of the significance of these differences, a one-way ANOVA test was conducted, and the results are shown in Table 9. Table 9. Differences in parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to the region. Source DF SS F P Between groups 2 3.663 4.662 0.010 Within groups 316 0.786 Total 318 As Table 9 shows, the p-value (0.010) is less than 0.05 which means that there are visible significant statistical differences. To determine the source of these differences, a Scheffe test was calculated. The results are set out in Table 10. Table 10. Scheffe's test for post-comparisons between means of parents and carers’ perceptions of disability legislation according to the region Region Mean difference P South North 0.229 0.092 Sig Mid 0.391* 0.003 Sig Note: *Significant at the 0.05 level. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1126 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. The result of Schefft’s test for post-comparisons confessed that parents and carers of students with disabilities from the south region had greater positive perceptions of disability legislation than the participants who live in the mid region. 7. DISCUSSION The study investigates the awareness and perceptions of carers and parents of students with disabilities on the current legislation that is supposed to guarantee the rights of individual with disabilities in Jordan. Parents and carers of students with disabilities perceived themselves as moderately aware and knowledgeable of disability law. This acceptable level of awareness resulted from the rapid expansion of internet availability over the last decade among families where they can find numerous materials connected to the disability legislations. Additionally, many initiations were conducted by HCRPD and universities to increase the awareness of disability issues in Jordan. This finding matches Kuppusamy et al.'s (2012) results who found that caregivers of children with intellectual disabilities had a moderate level of awareness of disability legislation. Moreover, to some extent, the result is not in line with Majumdar et al.'s (2025) study whose participants lacked awareness of the rights of individuals with disabilities. The participants in this study perceived that their students with disabilities enjoy their rights as stated by the law. Nevertheless, my participants believed that their students with disabilities did not fully enjoy their educational rights because the educational institutions were not fully attending to the law. Benson (2020) discussed the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Jordan. She stated, “The law addresses multiple facets of full inclusion in daily living for persons with disabilities. Articles 17 through 22 are specific to the educational rights of students with disabilities, but like previous laws, lack legislative details that would make the law effective” (p.110). This may be consistent with the participants who thought that the schools had professional staff, but they did not offer reasonable accommodation to the students. While the analysis shows that my participants’ perceptions of disability legislation are positive generally, their responses prove that the enforcement of legislation regarding educational and health rights remains modest. For example, from the participants’ perceptions of inclusive education is not easily accessible for students with disabilities. This is in line with Buchner et al.'s (2021) findings who found shortcomings in implementing the CRPD of seven European countries in inclusive education for students with intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, the Jordanian Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Act No. 20 for the Year 2017) has identified in many articles the role of formal authorities to facilitate the diagnosis process for individuals with disabilities. However, my participants support the pervasive notion that timely obtaining an accurate diagnosis is characterized by several challenges which is repeatedly reported in the literature (Chamak, Bonniau, Oudaya, & Ehrenberg, 2011; Holliday, Stanley, Fodstad, & Minshawi, 2016; McCrimmon & Gray, 2021; Small & Belluigi, 2024; Watson, Hayes, & Radford-Paz, 2011). They rated the item, “Accessible diagnosis services are available to individuals with disabilities” as the lowest statement in the questionnaire. This corresponds to a qualitative study where Jordanian parents of children with autism spectrum disorders reported dissatisfaction with many aspects of the diagnosis that their children received (Hyassat, Al-Makahleh, Rahahleh, & Al-Zyoud, 2023). Furthermore, existing literature supports the notion that the enforcement of disability legislation is suboptimal (Bezat, 2022; Bogenschutz et al., 2021; Ganiem, 2021; Morgan, 2023) which is confirmed in the current study. Female parents and carers have similar perceptions of disability legislations. This can be interpreted by the fact that caring for a child with a disability is a shared responsibility among family members; they are all involved in service delivery for their child day by day. This may contribute to the participants having similar knowledge and views of disability legislations regardless of their gender. Meanwhile, similar to the research respondents of Kuppusamy et al. (2012), more educated participants had more positive perceptions of the legislations, this is maybe because educated people have a deeper understanding of the laws. They believe in legislation as a way of organizing Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 2025, 13(3): 1118-1129 1127 © 2025 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. the societies and achieving justice which leads to trusting the laws and having positive attitudes toward legislation in general. 8. CONCLUSION In Jordan, the perceptions of carers and parents of students with disabilities regarding disability legislation were not given attention. However, the current study suggests that parents and carers of students with disabilities have a sense of security due to the existence of the legislation. Meanwhile, they hope that responsible authorities take serious actions to monitor and implement all the disability legislative texts in Jordan. Considering that Jordan has stepped forward to secure the rights of individuals with disabilities, the results underscore the need for rethinking of best practices to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities. For example, amending the law to make inclusive education mandatory, setting up national criteria to facilitate equal educational opportunities in schools and universities, reinforcing the role of the Ministry of Education in monitoring the enforcement of mainstreaming education policies, developing the accessibility to health and education services, and activating the accountability system among the professionals involved in services delivery to individuals with disabilities. Future research may consider the perceptions of individuals with disabilities themselves of disability legislation which would give wider knowledge about their enjoyment of their rights. In- depth interviews with policymakers and policy implementers could uncover many aspects of disability legislation. Funding: This study received no specific financial support. Institutional Review Board Statement: The Ethical Committee of the Queen Rania Faculty for Childhood, The Hashemite University, Jordan has granted approval for this study on 16 February 2024 (Ref. FC250019). Transparency: The author states that the manuscript is honest, truthful, and transparent, that no key aspects of the investigation have been omitted, and that any differences from the study as planned have been clarified. This study followed all writing ethics. Competing Interests: The author declares that there are no conflicts of interests regarding the publication of this paper. REFERENCES Alem, S. M. (2020). When we tell you we can do it, believe us: An analysis of the legislation and policies related to the employment of women with disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. University of Massachusetts Boston. Alkhatib, R. N., AlSaaydeh, M. N., & ElKhatib, N. A. (2021). 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