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

Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities (NLTS2)

NCSER 2007-3006
September 2007

Extent statement is like youth	Learning disability	Speech/ language impairment	Mental retardation	Emotional disturbance	Hearing impairment	Visual impairment	Orthopedic impairment	Other health impairment	Autism	Traumatic brain injury	Multiple disabilities	Deaf-blindness
Extent statement is like youth	Percent / standard error
You are proud of who you are
Very much like you	73.9	73.6	71.7	70.2	75.7	81.6	77.1	66.8	66.1	80.1	81.3	81.4
Very much like you	(3.74)	(3.96)	(5.22)	(4.25)	(5.27)	(4.88)	(4.84)	(4.43)	(6.94)	(7.23)	(5.82)	(7.02)
A little like you	23.8	25.5	21.9	24.9	20.9	17.4	20.6	28.6	29.9	18.9	15.7	16.6
A little like you	(3.63)	(3.91)	(4.80)	(4.02)	(4.99)	(4.78)	(4.65)	(4.25)	(6.71)	(7.09)	(5.43)	(6.72)
Not at all like you	2.4	0.9	6.5	4.9	3.4	1.0	2.3	4.5	4.0	0.9	3.0	2.0
Not at all like you	(1.30)	(0.85)	(2.86)	(2.01)	(2.23)	(1.25)	(1.73)	(1.95)	(2.87)	(1.71)	(2.55)	(2.53)
You feel life is full of interesting things to do
Very much like you	61.1	61.2	61.3	62.0	61.6	57.1	60.3	51.4	61.7	58.7	58.8	62.4
Very much like you	(4.14)	(4.33)	(5.67)	(4.50)	(5.97)	(5.80)	(5.63)	(4.69)	(7.18)	(8.89)	(7.36)	(8.74)
A little like you	33.0	33.8	26.8	30.9	32.1	35.1	33.6	39.5	32.2	37.7	34.5	33.5
A little like you	(4.00)	(4.21)	(5.15)	(4.29)	(5.73)	(5.60)	(5.43)	(4.59)	(6.90)	(8.75)	(7.11)	(8.52)
Not at all like you	5.9	5.0	11.9	7.1	6.2	7.9	6.1	9.2	6.1	3.5	6.7	4.1
Not at all like you	(2.00)	(1.94)	(3.77)	(2.38)	(2.96)	(3.16)	(2.75)	(2.71)	(3.53)	(3.32)	(3.74)	(3.58)
You feel useful and important
Very much like you	61.6	56.1	49.5	57.8	51.4	53.7	66.5	48.9	54.3	67.7	62.0	58.4
Very much like you	(4.15)	(4.43)	(5.81)	(4.59)	(6.15)	(6.33)	(5.42)	(4.70)	(7.32)	(8.42)	(7.27)	(8.90)
A little like you	30.1	37.8	31.8	34.2	38.5	41.9	28.9	41.6	42.0	28.7	31.9	35.5
A little like you	(3.91)	(4.33)	(5.42)	(4.41)	(5.98)	(6.26)	(5.20)	(4.63)	(7.25)	(8.15)	(6.98)	(8.64)
Not at all like you	8.3	6.0	18.8	8.0	10.1	4.4	4.7	9.5	3.6	3.6	6.2	6.1
Not at all like you	(2.35)	(2.12)	(4.54)	(2.52)	(3.71)	(2.60)	(2.43)	(2.75)	(2.74)	(3.35)	(3.61)	(4.32)

How often youth felt this in past week:
Enjoys life
Most or all of the time	59.2	58.3	56.4	55.8	46.7	52.7	53.7	52.5	43.3	65.6	56.2	52.1
Most or all of the time	(4.18)	(4.40)	(5.74)	(4.59)	(6.14)	(6.31)	(5.72)	(4.69)	(7.38)	(8.57)	(7.43)	(9.02)
A lot of the time	18.0	20.1	18.7	19.5	28.7	30.9	23.0	24.0	34.4	10.7	23.3	29.0
A lot of the time	(3.27)	(3.57)	(4.51)	(3.66)	(5.56)	(5.84)	(4.83)	(4.01)	(7.07)	(5.58)	(6.33)	(8.19)
Sometimes	18.2	19.2	15.7	16.5	23.0	12.3	21.1	21.6	19.8	21.9	17.5	14.8
Sometimes	(3.28)	(3.51)	(4.21)	(3.43)	(5.18)	(4.15)	(4.68)	(3.86)	(5.93)	(7.46)	(5.69)	(6.41)
Rarely or never	4.6	2.4	9.1	8.2	1.5	4.1	2.2	2.0	2.4	1.8	3.1	4.1
Rarely or never	(1.78)	(1.36)	(3.33)	(2.53)	(1.49)	(2.51)	(1.68)	(1.31)	(2.28)	(2.40)	(2.59)	(3.58)
Hopeful about the future
Most or all of the time	41.9	38.2	28.8	47.7	36.8	46.2	47	36.7	33.9	46.8	36.4	56.3
Most or all of the time	(4.21)	(4.34)	(5.35)	(4.65)	(5.95)	(6.33)	(5.76)	(4.56)	(7.05)	(9.08)	(7.21)	(8.95)
A lot of the time	23.3	19.9	24.4	19.1	28.3	25.4	23.1	21.1	28.8	10	25.7	20.8
A lot of the time	(3.60)	(3.57)	(5.08)	(3.66)	(5.55)	(5.53)	(4.86)	(3.86)	(6.75)	(5.46)	(6.55)	(7.33)
Sometimes	22.9	30.2	29.6	22.8	28.4	20.2	21.9	27.7	30.2	31.1	24.3	18.8
Sometimes	(3.58)	(4.10)	(5.39)	(3.91)	(5.56)	(5.10)	(4.77)	(4.24)	(6.84)	(8.42)	(6.43)	(7.05)
Rarely or never	11.9	11.8	17.1	10.4	6.6	8.2	8.1	14.5	7.1	12.2	13.6	4.1
Rarely or never	(2.76)	(2.88)	(4.45)	(2.84)	(3.06)	(3.48)	(3.15)	(3.33)	(3.83)	(5.96)	(5.14)	(3.58)
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Special Education Research, National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), Wave 2 youth telephone interview/mail survey, 2003.

Top