Disability Category Differences in Self-Descriptons and Life Descriptions

Youth's self-reported perceptions of their attributes and their lives differ somewhat across disability categories.

"Who I Am" Self-Descriptions

Disability category differences are apparent for self-reported perceptions of some attributes. Youth with emotional disturbances are less likely to feel that being a nice person is "very much" like them (78 percent) than are those with orthopedic impairments (92 percent, p < .01; table 1). When asked their perceptions related to being a person who can handle challenges, youth with visual impairments are more likely to think of themselves as being "very much" someone who can handle what comes their way (73 percent), compared with 39 percent of those with autism (p < .001). Conversely, 8 percent of those with other health impairments consider themselves to be "not at all" able to deal with life's challenges, compared with fewer than 1 percent of youth with visual impairments (p < .01).

Youth do not differ significantly by disability category in their reporting of having a sense of humor or being sensitive to others' feelings. Ratings of having a "very good" sense of humor range from 41 percent for youth with autism to 59 percent of those with deaf-blindness, and "very good" ratings related to being sensitive to others range from 37 percent of youth with other health impairments to 54 percent of youth with deaf-blindness. However, youth with mental retardation are more likely to assess their organizational skills as "very good" (34 percent) than are those with speech/language impairments (19 percent, p < .01) or other health impairments (16 percent, p < .01).

Within each disability category, youth appraise their skills and abilities as being stronger in some areas than others. For example, youth with learning disabilities are more likely to report considering themselves to be a nice person (83 percent) or able to handle challenges (67 percent) than to give high ratings to their ability to be sensitive to others (40 percent, p < .001 for both comparisons) or be well organized (19 percent, p < .001 for both comparisons).

Table 1: Youth with disabilities' reported perceptions of self attributes, by disability category

Identifying oneself as an individual with a disability is more common for youth with some kinds of disabilities than others, although there are at least a quarter of youth in every disability category who report that they do not consider themselves to have a disability. Percentages of youth identifying themselves as having a disability range from 21 percent of those with speech/language impairments to 74 percent of those with deaf-blindness (figure 5). Approximately one in five youth with speech/language impairments consider themselves to have a disability (21 percent), significantly fewer than those in 8 of the 11 other disability categories—deaf-blindness (74 percent), visual impairment (71 percent), orthopedic impairment (71 percent), multiple disabilities (68 percent), autism (60 percent), hearing impairment (56 percent), other health impairment (45 percent), and mental retardation (40 percent; p < .001 for all comparisons other than with mental retardation, p < .01). Similarly, youth with learning disabilities are significantly less likely to report they have a disability or special need (28 percent) than are those in seven other disability categories (deaf-blindness, visual impairment, orthopedic impairment, multiple disabilities, autism, and hearing or other health impairment; p < .001 for all comparisons other than with other health impairment, p < .01). Youth with emotional disturbances are less likely to identify themselves as having a disability (29 percent) than youth with other health impairments (45 percent, p < .01) or autism (60 percent, p < .001).

Figure 5: Youth's self-reports of a disability, by disability category

"How I Feel" Self-Descriptions

Youth's descriptions of their feelings about themselves and their lives—particularly in responses to questions about negative feelings—vary somewhat by disability category.

Positive aspects. Youth do not differ significantly by disability category in their reports related to feeling proud of themselves. The proportions of youth who report that the statement "you are proud of who you are" is "very much" like them range from 66 percent of youth with autism to 82 percent of those with visual impairments (table 2).

Table 2: Youth with disabilities' reported feelings about positive aspects of self and life, by disability category

The extent to which youth agree with the statement "you feel your life is full of interesting things to do" does not vary significantly by disability category, nor does their frequency of reporting enjoying life "most or all of the time." Rates of reporting enjoying life most or all of the time in the preceding week range from 43 percent of those with autism to 66 percent of those with traumatic brain injuries, and rates of reporting that feeling that life is full of interesting things to do is "very much" like them range from 51 percent of youth with other health impairments to 62 percent of those with deaf-blindness. Youth vary somewhat in their descriptions of feeling useful and being hopeful about the future. Youth with mental retardation are more likely to say that the statement "you feel useful and important" is "not at all" like them (19 percent) than are those with orthopedic impairments (5 percent, p < .01), visual impairments (4 percent, p < .01), autism (4 percent, p < .01), or traumatic brain injuries (4 percent, p < .01). Those with mental retardation are less likely to state that they felt hopeful about the future "most or all of the time" during the past week (29 percent) than are youth with emotional disturbances (48 percent, p < .01).

Negative aspects. Reports of feeling depressed "rarely or never" in the previous week range from 70 percent for those with visual impairments to 44 percent for those with multiple disabilities; these are the only two disability categories that differ significantly from each other on this measure (p < .01). Across disability categories, few report feeling depressed most or all of time, with rates ranging from 2 percent of youth with deaf-blindness to 12 percent of those with multiple disabilities (table 3).

Youth do not significantly differ by disability category in their frequency of reporting feeling lonely. From 3 percent to 11 percent of youth with disabilities report feeling lonely "most or all of the time" during the past week, and from 46 percent to 66 percent report "rarely or never" feeling lonely in the preceding week, not statistically significant differences.

In contrast, youth with traumatic brain injuries are significantly more likely to report feeling disliked "most or all of the time" than are those with learning disabilities (10 percent vs. 2 percent, p < .01). Conversely, three-fourths of youth with learning disabilities indicate they "rarely or never" feel disliked, whereas fewer than half of youth with multiple disabilities, other health impairments, or traumatic brain injuries report "rarely or never" feeling disliked (p < .01 for comparisons with youth with multiple disabilities or other health impairments, p < .001 for comparison with youth with traumatic brain injuries).

Table 3: Youth with disabilities' reported feelings about negative aspects of self and life, by disability category

Self-Realization Scale

With the exception of youth with orthopedic and other health impairments, more than half of youth in all disability categories achieve high scores for self-realization (table 4). Proportions across disability categories range from 67 percent to 44 percent. Youth with learning disabilities are more likely to have high self-realization scores (67 percent) than are those with orthopedic or other health impairments (44 percent for both disability categories; p < .01 for both comparisons).

Table 4: Self-realization scores of youth, by disability category

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