This study aimed al invesligating Ihe allitudes of residents of Bahir Dar town toward persons withrnmenIal retardation.rnThe subjects of the study included 300 participants (150 men and 150 women), 8 religious leaders andrnelders and 6 parents of children with mental retardation, selected using systematic, pW'lJosive,rnavailable and simple random sampling techniques. Questionnaire, focus-group discussions andrnobservations were used to gather data; percentage, t-test and one-way analysis of variance were usedrn10 analyze the data.rnResults show that men hold mare positive allitudes toward mental retardation than women though atrncognitive level. The respondent 's allitudes toward persons with mental retardation also vOlY by theirrneducational status. Hence, the higher the respondents educational status, the more positive theirrnallitudes toward Mental Retardation.rnResults also revealed that the participants of the sll/dy have misconceptions and wrong beliefs aboutrnthe nature and characteristics of mental retardation and about persons with mental retardation. Forrninstance, the majority of the sample population believed mental retardation as a kind of curablerndisease and persons with mental retardation as destructive, inallentive, unji-iendly, etc. They alsornbelieved that religious, cultural and supernatural factors as causes of mental retardation. Furtherrn1II0re they do have a pessimistic view of their roles and possibililies to improve the conditions ofrnpersons with mental retardation. Results more over depicted that the participants have no futurernexpectations about persons with mental retardation concel'l7ing their education and self-enhancingrnactivities through cOlllmunicating and interacting with others. Religion, culture (values and beliefs)rnand labels and names given to the disability were found to have a significant effect in forming andrngoverning people's atliludes toward persons wilh menIal retardation.rnThe study concluded that people have negative allitudes towards lIIental retardation due to lack ofrnknowledge and understanding about the nature and characteristics as well as the causes of mentalrnretardation.rnThe implication of the study is that professionals should focus on raising the awareness of people inrnthe community in general and parents of children with lIIental retardation in particular about therndisability through providing informat ion on the causes, the nature and characteristics of MentalrnRetardation so they know the role they can play to help persons with the disability.