Disability Differences in School Experiences and Perceptions

Challenges at School

Academic challenges. Across disability categories, most youth do not differ significantly in the extent to which they perceive school to be "not hard at all" (table 8). The exception is that 10 percent of youth with learning disabilities, the largest category of secondary school students receiving special education services, report having no academic problems at school, whereas almost three times as many youth with emotional disturbances (27 percent) report finding school to be without academic difficulty (p < .01).

Reports of "never" having trouble paying attention at school range from 14 percent of youth with other health impairments, the disability category that generally contains students whose primary disability is attention deficit or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, to 39 percent of youth with deaf-blindness. The only differences that reach the p < .01 level of statistical significance are between youth with other health impairments (14 percent) and those with visual impairments or mental retardation (34 percent and 35 percent, respectively; p < .01 for both comparisons). The percentage of youth reporting "never" having trouble finishing homework ranges from 25 percent of youth with learning disabilities to 44 percent of those with visual impairments; this is the only statistically significant difference in reports of this perception (p < .01).

Table 8: Youth's reported perceptions of academic challenges, by disability category

Interpersonal challenges. There is wider variation across disability categories in the views of youth with disabilities regarding getting along with others at school (table 9) than is evident with regard to facing academic challenges. For example, youth with emotional disturbances are about half as likely as those with orthopedic impairments to report they "never" have trouble getting along with teachers (30 percent vs. 59 percent, p < .001). Similarly, youth with emotional disturbances are significantly less likely than those with visual or orthopedic impairments to report "never" having trouble getting along with other students (29 percent vs. 56 percent and 54 percent, respectively; p < .001 for both comparisons). No other group differences in these perceptions reach the p < .01 level of statistical significance.

A strong affinity with an adult at school is reported by more than 60 percent of youth with hearing, visual, or orthopedic impairments; multiple disabilities; or deaf-blindness, and the rate of strong affiliation with an adult among youth in other categories ranges from 48 percent to 58 percent, with no significant group differences. The exception is youth with mental retardation, who are significantly less likely than youth in any other category to agree "a lot" that they feel close to an adult at school who cares about them (12 percent, p < .001 for all comparisons).

Table 9: Youth's perceptions of interpersonal challenges at school, by disability category

School Safety

Youth with disabilities share similar views across disability categories in reported feelings of being "very safe" at school (table 10), ranging from more than half of youth with visual impairments or autism to 36 percent of youth with learning disabilities. However, at the other end of the spectrum of feelings of school safety, youth with emotional disturbances are significantly more likely to report feeling "not very safe" or "not safe at all" at school than youth with visual impairments (13 percent vs. 2 percent, p < .01).

Table 10: Youth's reported perceptions of school safety, by disability category

Affiliation With School

Although the percentages of youth with disabilities who report feeling part of their school "a lot" cluster between 25 percent and 38 percent across most disability categories (table 11), almost half of youth with visual impairments (48 percent) report that feeling, in contrast with the 23 percent of youth with other health impairments who indicate that level of affiliation with their school (p < .001). Feeling "not at all" affiliated with school is reported by 15 percent of youth with emotional disturbances, significantly more than the 2 percent of youth with hearing impairments or deaf-blindness who do so (p < .01). Youth with hearing impairments also are less likely than those with other health impairments to report this low level of affiliation (p < .01).

Youth with visual impairments join those with hearing impairments in having more than 60 percent of youth participating in organized extracurricular activities at schools. In contrast, 34 percent or fewer of youth with mental retardation, emotional disturbances, or autism report taking part in extracurricular activities at school (p < .01 for comparisons with youth with autism; p < .001 for other comparisons).

The frequency with which youth report being involved at school "every time I have the chance" ranges from 34 percent of youth with multiple disabilities to 13 percent of those with emotional disturbances. More than 40 percent of youth with emotional disturbances or autism say they never get involved at school "even when they have the chance" (42 percent and 46 percent, respectively). These rates are significantly higher than the 13 percent and 15 percent of youth with hearing impairments or deaf-blindness, respectively, who also are unlikely to participate at school when they have a chance (p < .01 compared with youth with deaf-blindness; p < .001 compared with youth with hearing impairments).

Table 11: Youth's reported affiliation with school, by disability category

Enjoyment of School

Half or more of youth with mental retardation or multiple disabilities report they enjoy school "a lot" (table 12). However, at 23 percent and 21 percent, youth with emotional disturbances or other health impairments are significantly less likely than these groups to enjoy school "a lot" (p < .01 comparing youth with emotional disturbances and multiple disabilities; p < .001 comparing youth with other health impairments and multiple disabilities and comparing both groups with youth with mental retardation). Between 25 percent and 37 percent of youth in most other categories report they enjoy school "a lot."

Table 12: Youth's reported enjoyment of school, by disability category

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