“Who I Am” Self-Descriptions

Youth with disabilities were asked to communicate their self-descriptions related to six attributes—being a nice person, being able to handle challenges, having a sense of humor, being sensitive to others' feelings, being well organized, and having a disability. They were asked to report on a 3-point scale whether being a nice person and being able to handle most things that come their way is "very much like [them]" (3 points), "a little like [them]," or "not at all like [them]" (1 point), and on a 4-point scale whether they thought they were "very good" (4 points), "pretty good," "not very good," or "not at all good" (1 point) at having a sense of humor, being sensitive to others, and being well organized.

Youth with disabilities report higher estimations of some attributes than others. Most youth report viewing themselves as being nice; 83 percent state that being a nice person is "very much" like them, and fewer than 1 percent report that being a nice person is "not at all" like them (figure 1). Youth are more likely to give high ratings to themselves for being a nice person than to appraise other self attributes so positively (p < .001 for all comparisons). Almost two-thirds (64 percent) describe themselves as being very able to handle most challenges that come their way. They are more likely to give high ratings to their ability to handle challenges than to having a sense of humor, being sensitive, or being well organized (p < .001 for all comparisons). Slightly more than half (51 percent) assert they have a "very good" sense of humor, with an additional 42 percent stating they have a "pretty good" sense of humor. Youth are more likely to describe themselves as having a very good sense of humor than to describe themselves as being very sensitive or well organized (p < .001 both comparisons). Forty-one percent report a "very good" sensitivity to others' feelings, whereas one-quarter (22 percent) describe themselves as "very good" at being well organized (p < .001).

When values on the response scales for each attribute were correlated, youth who describe themselves more positively with regard to one aspect of their personality are more likely to report being positive about other aspects. For example, youth who describe themselves as being able to handle most things also are more likely to state that they have a good sense of humor r = .21 (p < .001). Correlations between the various self-attributes range from r = .09 (p < .001) for the relationship between responses to being a nice person and being well organized to r = .26 (p < .001) for responses related to being sensitive to others' feelings and being a nice person.

Figure 1: Youth with disabilities' reported perceptions of self attributes

Parents of youth included in this report were asked to share their perceptions of their children, using the same 4-point scale in three of these areas: having a sense of humor, being sensitive to others, and being well organized. Ratings do not differ significantly between parents and youth for these attributes, including having a sense of humor (59 percent "very good" vs. 51 percent), being sensitive to others' feelings (50 percent vs. 41 percent), or being well organized (19 percent vs. 22 percent). In addition, parents' and youth's perceptions are related to each other in that youth who hold higher estimates of their abilities tend to have parents who also hold high estimates of the youth's abilities. Correlations of parents' and youth's scale scores regarding perceptions range from r = .18 (p < .001) for ratings related to having a sense of humor, r = .20 (p < .001) for ratings related to being sensitive to others, and r = .39 (p < .001) for being well organized.

Beyond the perceptions of the types of attributes shared by all youth, those with disabilities have views about their disability. To explore whether youth consider themselves to have a disability, youth were read the statement "Some people have a disability or special need that makes it hard for them to do some things" and then were asked, "Do you consider yourself to have any kind of disability or special need?" Fewer than one-third (32 percent) of those who had received special education services when they were ages 13 through 16 describe themselves as having a disability or special need when they are 15 through 19 years old.

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