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Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities  (NLTS2)
NCSER 2007-3006
September 2007

Table 19.  Youth with disabilities' reported expectations for their future independence, by disability category

Expectations1 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
Percent / standard error
Percentage expected to:                        
Get a driver's license                        
Definitely will 86.3 87.2 57.9 81.8 91.5 12.4 57.0 80.7 54.0 86.6 53.1 25.2
(2.93) (2.98) (5.89) (3.59) (3.44) (4.15) (5.75) (3.70) (7.44) (6.19) (7.64) (7.84)
Probably will 11.7 11.6 28.2 14.2 7.3 # 24.2 12.7 24.5 8.2 19.4 6.3
(2.74) (2.86) (5.37) (3.25) (3.21)   (4.97) (3.12) (6.42) (4.98) (6.05) (4.39)
Definitely or probably won't 2.0 1.2 13.9 4.0 1.2 87.6 18.8 6.6 21.5 5.2 27.4 68.6
(1.19) (0.97) (4.13) (1.82) (1.34) (4.15) (4.54) (2.33) (6.13) (4.03) (6.83) (8.38)
Get a paid job                        
Definitely will 97.1 95.7 86.3 92.9 96.1 92.6 83.8 95.8 77.7 92.5 86.1 82.2
(1.43) (1.82) (4.14) (2.39) (2.38) (3.35) (4.31) (1.90) (6.25) (4.78) (5.23) (7.13)
Probably will 2.6 4.3 9.7 5.8 3.1 7.2 11.3 4.2 9.8 6.7 11.2 17.8
(1.36) (1.82) (3.56) (2.18) (2.13) (3.31) (3.70) (1.90) (5.98) (4.53) (4.76) (7.13)
Definitely or probably won't 0.2 # 4.0 1.3 0.8 0.2 4.9 # 2.6 0.8 2.7 #
(0.38)   (2.36) (1.06) (1.09) (0.57) (2.52)   (2.39) (1.62) (2.45)  
Be financially self-supporting                        
Definitely will 71.3 60.6 37.1 66.2 57.8 68.6 46.8 67.4 34.3 62.2 29.2 40.4
(3.93) (4.48) (6.21) (4.47) (6.46) (6.09) (6.00) (4.59) (7.64) (9.12) (7.61) (9.47)
Probably will 25.0 35.8 48.1 28.3 35.5 28.7 36.2 26.9 43.1 35.9 46.0 45.4
(3.77) (4.39) (6.42) (4.26) (6.26) (5.93) (5.77) (4.35) (7.97) (9.03) (8.34) (9.61)
Definitely or probably won't 3.7 3.6 14.8 5.5 6.8 2.7 16.9 5.7 22.5 1.9 24.8 14.1
(1.64) (1.71) (4.57) (2.16) (3.29) (2.13) (4.50) (2.27) (6.72) (2.57) (7.23) (6.72)
Live independently without supervision                        
Definitely will 76.7 69.2 48.8 78.0 66.9 68.7 57.4 76.0 45.8 75.8 40.8 57.8
(3.61) (4.14) (5.91) (3.89) (5.99) (5.91) (5.78) (4.04) (7.57) (7.93) (7.63) (9.21)
Probably will 20.1 24.9 36.7 17.2 22.6 26.9 23.1 18.7 31.9 21.6 35.3 26.8
(3.43) (3.88) (5.70) (3.55) (5.32) (5.65) (4.93) (3.69) (7.08) (7.62) (7.41) (8.26)
Definitely or probably won't 3.2 5.9 14.5 4.7 10.6 4.4 19.5 5.4 22.3 2.6 23.9 15.4
(1.50) (2.11) (4.16) (1.99) (3.92) (2.61) (4.63) (2.14) (6.33) (2.94) (6.62) (6.73)
1 Youth who have attained the outcome are included as "definitely will."
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.

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