Disability Category Differences

Disability category differences are apparent on most, although not all, of the range of views examined in this report. Some of the perceptions or views youth report are consistent with the fundamental nature of their disabilities. For example, youth in the other health impairment category, to which youth with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder as a primary disability typically are assigned, are more likely than most others to report having daily trouble paying attention in school. Those with orthopedic impairments are less likely than most others to report having strong athletic or mechanical skills. Youth with autism, which affects their ability to establish relationships with others and engage in daily activities, are less likely than those in most other categories to report a strong sense of affiliation at school or to be involved in activities there; they also are among the least likely to report they make friends easily or feel cared about by friends "a lot." Youth with emotional and/or behavioral challenges often can have relationships with others in which conflict is common; consistent with this, youth in the emotional disturbance category are less likely than many others to report infrequent trouble getting along with others at school and that they are cared about "a lot" by adults other than family members. Finally, youth whose disabilities are more obvious, such as those with deaf-blindness or visual or orthopedic impairments, are much more likely to report having a disability than youth with learning disabilities or speech/language impairments, for example, whose disabilities often are less immediately apparent to others.

Further, generally more positive perceptions and expectations are apparent for some categories of youth with disabilities and more negative ones for others. Youth with visual impairments and those with mental retardation illustrate these differences.

Youth with visual impairments are more likely than those in several other categories to report a strong sense of being able to handle things that come their way and to report rarely or never feeling depressed. They report little trouble getting along with others at school and a strong sense of affiliation with and level of involvement there. They tend to have high self-determination skills, confidence in their ability to find a friend, and a strong sense of being cared about by their friends.

In contrast, compared with youth in several other categories, those with mental retardation are more likely to report not feeling cared about by their parents or other adults and are less likely to report there is an adult at school who knows and cares about them. They also are less likely than most categories of youth to be active participants in organized activities at school. Youth with mental retardation are more likely than many others to report feeling not very or not at all useful, not able to deal well with challenges they face, and that they rarely or never enjoy life. They are less likely to report rarely or never feeling depressed and feeling hopeful about the future most or all of the time. However, despite being more likely than other groups of youth with disabilities to express negative feelings or perceptions, it is a minority of youth with mental retardation who do so.

Despite these differences, there are some dimensions on which statistically significant disability category differences are not apparent. For example, there are no statistically significant differences across categories in the percentages of youth who report enjoying life most or all of the time and identifying strongly with a statement that their lives are full of interesting things to do.

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