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- Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities
- Executive Summary
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Educational Attainment Expectations
- Independence Expectations
- Relationships Among Expectations
- Comparison With Parent Expectations
- Disability Category Differences in Expectations
- Summary
- Chapter Seven
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- References
PDF & Related Info
Disability Category Differences in Expectations
There are differences in youth's expectations regarding future educational attainment and independence apparent for youth in different disability categories.
Educational Attainment
Youth do not differ significantly by disability category in their expectations to graduate from high school. Expectations "definitely" to graduate from high school range from 70 percent for youth with multiple disabilities to 93 percent for those with traumatic brain injuries (table 18). In contrast, disability category differences are apparent for expectations related to postsecondary school. Expectations to "definitely" attend postsecondary school range from 8 in 10 of those with hearing impairments to fewer than 4 in 10 of those with mental retardation. Youth with hearing impairments are more likely to expect they "definitely will" attend postsecondary school (80 percent) than are those with multiple disabilities (47 percent, p < .01), autism (47 percent, p < .01), or mental retardation (38 percent, p < .001). Youth with mental retardation also are less likely to expect to "definitely" continue their education after high school than are youth with visual impairments (70 percent, p < .001), traumatic brain injuries (67 percent, p < .01), orthopedic impairments (62 percent, p < .01), speech impairments (59 percent, p < .01), or emotional disturbances (56 percent, p < .01).
Expectations for completing postsecondary vocational, technical, or trade school programs do not differ significantly by disability category. Youth in most disability categories do not differ significantly in their expectations related to graduating from a 2-year college; the one exception is that those with mental retardation are less likely to expect they "definitely will" graduate from a 2-year college (23 percent) than are those with traumatic brain injuries (53 percent, p < .01). Expectations for "definitely" graduating from a 4-year institution vary more widely across disability categories. Youth with hearing impairments are more likely to expect to "definitely" complete a 4-year college program (47 percent ) than are those with mental retardation (16 percent, p < .001), autism (21 percent, p < .01), other health impairments (23 percent, p < .001), learning disabilities (25 percent, p < .01), or emotional disturbances (27 percent, p < .01). Youth with mental retardation also are less likely to expect to graduate from a 4-year university than are those with traumatic brain injuries (43 percent, p < .01), visual impairments (39 percent, p < .01), orthopedic impairments (39 percent, p < .01), or speech or language impairments (35 percent, p < .01).
Independence
Future independence expectations also differ across disability categories. Expectations for "definitely" earning a driver's license range from 12 percent to 92 percent (table 19). Few youth with visual impairment (12 percent) or deaf-blindness (25 percent) expect they "definitely" will get a driver's license. Youth in both disability categories are less likely to expect they "definitely" will have a driver's license than are those in all other categories (other than multiple disabilities for comparison with expectations of youth with deaf-blindness).48 Approximately half of those in four categories—youth with mental retardation (58 percent), orthopedic impairments (57 percent), autism (54 percent), and multiple disabilities (53 percent)—expect to "definitely" get a driver's license. Youth in these four disability categories are significantly less likely definitely to expect to drive than are those in six of the other disability categories who have expectations ranging from 81 percent to 92 percent—youth with learning disabilities (86 percent, p < .001 for all comparisons), speech impairments (87 percent, p < .001 for all comparisons), emotional disturbances (82 percent; p < .001 for comparison with mental retardation, autism, and multiple disabilities; p < .01 for comparison with orthopedic impairments), hearing impairments (92 percent, p < .001 for all comparisons), other health impairments (81 percent; p < .01 for all comparisons other than for comparison with autism, which is not a significant difference), or traumatic brain injuries (87 percent, p < .001 for all comparisons).
More than 80 percent of those in all disability categories other than autism expect "definitely" to have paid employment. Responses range from 78 percent of those with autism to 97 percent of youth with learning disabilities. Youth with autism are less likely to expect "definitely" to be employed than are those with learning disabilities or speech, hearing, or orthopedic impairments (p < .01 for all comparisons).
Approximately two-thirds (61 percent to 71 percent) of youth in 6 of the 12 disability categories expect to be financially self-supporting, including those with learning disabilities; emotional disturbances; speech/language, visual, or other health impairments; or traumatic brain injuries. Youth in all of these disability categories are significantly more likely to expect to support themselves than are those with mental retardation (37 percent), autism (34 percent), or multiple disabilities (29 percent).49 Youth in these six disability categories also are more likely to expect to live independently in the future (69 percent to 77 percent expect to do so) than are those with mental retardation (49 percent), autism (46 percent), or multiple disabilities (41 percent).50 Youth with orthopedic impairments are less likely "definitely" to expect to support themselves (47 percent) or to live independently (57 percent) than are those with learning disabilities (p < .001 for self-supporting comparison, p < .01 for living independently comparison), emotional disturbances (p < .01 for both comparisons), or other health impairments (p < .01 for both comparisons). Youth with deaf-blindness are less likely than those with learning disabilities to expect to be financially self-supporting (p < .01).
48 Comparisons of youth with visual impairments' expectations to "definitely" get a driver's license with those of youth with learning disabilities (86 percent, p < .001), speech/language impairments (87 percent, p < .001), mental retardation (58 percent, p < .001), emotional disturbances (82 percent, p < .001), hearing impairments (92 percent, p < .001), orthopedic impairments (57 percent, p < .001), other health impairments (81 percent, p < .001), autism (54 percent, p < .001), traumatic brain injuries (87 percent, p < .001), multiple disabilities (53 percent, p < .001). Comparisons of expectations to "definitely" get a driver's license of youth with deaf-blindness with those of youth with learning disabilities (p < .001), speech/language impairments (p < .001), mental retardation (p < .001), emotional disturbances (p < .001), hearing impairments (p < .001), orthopedic impairments (p < .01), other health impairments (p < .001), autism (p < .01), traumatic brain injuries (p < .001).
49 Youth with mental retardation, autism, or multiple disabilities are less likely to expect "definitely" to be financially self-supporting compared with youth with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, or visual impairments (p < .001 for each of the three comparisons); other health impairments (p < .001 for each of these groups, compared with those with mental retardation, autism, or multiple disabilities), and youth with speech/language impairments (p < .01, p < .01, and p < .001). Additionally, youth with multiple disabilities are more likely than youth with traumatic brain injuries to have this expectation (p < .01).
50 Youth with mental retardation, autism, or multiple disabilities are less likely to expect "definitely" to live independently without supervision, compared with youth with learning disabilities, other health impairments, emotional disturbances (p < .001 for each of these groups, compared with youth with mental retardation, autism, or multiple disabilities), traumatic brain injuries, or speech/language impairments (p < .01 for these latter two groups, compared with youth with mental retardation, autism, or multiple disabilities). Additionally, youth with visual impairments are more likely than youth with multiple disabilities to have this expectation (p < .01).