From the Washington Post, a feature on the growing number of students with learning disabilities who are entering college. Twenty years ago, only one in 100 students with learning disabilities would graduate from high school and go on to a four-year college. Today, that number is about one in nine.

For many, the transition isn’t easy. Many colleges have programs to assist students, but …

what colleges must do is far less defined legally, and professors and administrators at some schools seem to remain skeptical about the needs that students might have. Schools must provide assistance to students, but only if the students disclose their disabilities.

… The students who are most successful, experts say, are the ones who adapt quickly to independence from their parents and become their own advocates.

Writing in the [UK] Guardian, Janet Murray says the UK needs to provide more options for young adults with learning disabilities after they finish school.

Too many of these young people find themselves stifled by inappropriate adult day care centers that do nothing to help them gain skills and independence, she says. Less than five percent of them find employment.

The government has promised to provide funding to support young adults in their quest for jobs, Murray says, but employers are reluctant to hire them.

From the Associated Press in the Washington Post:

For some students with disabilities, the end of high school can mark an abrupt end to support services that have helped them since early childhood. Advocates say young adults with disabilities face waiting lists and tight funding for needed services, impeding their ability to lead independent lives after they leave school.

Among the problems cited: schools that focus on academics at the expense of independent living skills; lack of coordination between schools and service providers, and a lack of student-centered planning. “It can feel like sinking into an abyss,” said one parent.

From the New York Times, a feature on the Center for Transition Planning, in its second year at Mamaroneck, New York, High School. The center helps students with special needs to develop skills that will help them lead purposeful lives when they leave school.

This year’s goal was to help students draw on personal interests to make money. Some started their own businesses under the guidance of job coaches, while others found jobs in the community.

“I view my job as linking them to their happiness — trying first to help them find it and then linking them to their community to make things happen,” said Mara McGowan, a special education teacher who developed and oversees the program.

Plans to transform the lives of disabled people are announced

From the [UK] Guardian:

The British Office for Disability Issues has released its plans for giving people with disabilities more choice and control over the support they need and greater access to employment, transportation, health and housing opportunities.

Said Prime Minister Gordon Brown, “We are committed to a vision of equality for all disabled people by 2025. A vision for Britain where all citizens are respected and included as equal members, and where everyone has the opportunity to fulfill their potential.”

Called the Independent Living Strategy, the document brings together initiatives on employment, housing and social care to remove barriers and improve access to services.

According to the strategy, “independent living” means not necessarily doing things for oneself, but having choice over support and equipment, and equal access to public services and opportunities.
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Column by Richard J. Dalton Jr. in Newsday:

Adults with autism spectrum disorders are now achieving greater levels of independence than ever before, and with their increased autonomy come concerns about whether they can successfully manage their own financial affairs in a world they don’t completely understand.

Parents worry that these young people can be too naive and trusting to successfully engage in complex financial transactions, and that they may become easy targets for those seeking to take advantage of them. Parents are increasingly considering seeking legal guardianship for their adult children, which would give them the right to make medical or financial decisions on their adult child’s behalf.

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