Transitioning High Students with Disabilities into College Programs

By Mary Ann Cummins Prager

On May 4, 2008, the Center on Disabilities at California State University at Northridge held its annual recognition awards ceremony, awarding scholarships to 10 outstanding students with disabilities for their academic and leadership accomplishments.  

The audience was completely quiet as the achievements of these amazing students were described.   With a variety of disabilities including vision, mobility, mental health and learning disabilities, the awardees spoke eloquently about their successes.   

Sitting in the audience were many of us who have worked with literally thousands of students with disabilities over the years, many of whom have fallen short of achieving their academic, personal, and career goals.  As we listened to their stories, I thought about why these students were succeeding when so many others either struggle through college or leave disappointed at their failure to achieve their college dreams.  I realized that each of these students had a set of characteristics in common that allowed them to achieve in spite of the extra challenges they faced.  

The following account is a consideration of those characteristics and what we, parents, educators, service providers and community members, can do to assist students with disabilities.

We begin by understanding that the transition to college is difficult for all students, not just students with disabilities.  This generation of students, born between 1980 and 2000 and popularly called the Millennials, has been characterized by a number of researchers as distinctly different from their predecessors.  Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a Research Professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark College, has coined the term, emerging adulthood, to describe older teens and 20-somethings, who are not quite adults.  He and others, who studied this generation, discovered that they are not reaching the traditional milestones of independence, graduating from college, leaving home, marrying, obtaining a permanent job, and becoming parents, until much later than earlier generations.   

Added to this discovery is a new generation of Boomer parents, sometimes called helicopter parents for their hovering behavior, who are remaining intimately involved in their children’s lives long past the first year of college. In fact, human resource professionals and college career counselors have noted the number of parents who are attending job fairs and interviews with their adult children, unthinkable in the past, is on the rise.  Given this broader generational context, it is no wonder that the transition to college for students with disabilities is difficult as they are further behind their non-disabled peers in terms of their ability to function independently. Those students at the recognition awards, who were sterling examples of achievement, had the ability to take on academic and personal challenges because they were able to do the following:

Describe their disability; They were able to discuss their disability in a knowledgeable manner, sharing the impact of the disability on their lives in a detailed and relevant way with faculty and service providers.  They knew how their disabilities impacted them in the classroom, in social settings and in the workplace, and they were able to use that knowledge in communicating the accommodations they needed to optimize their chance of success.

Objectively analyze their strengths and weaknesses; They engaged in a great deal of self reflection and could tell you what they were good at and where they faced challenges.  They had gained a strong self of self and were comfortable with their identities including their identity as a person with a disability.  While clearly their disabilities were an important component of their self image, they could speak about their complete profile of talents, abilities, and affinities.  They had developed practical ways to use their strengths to overcome weaknesses and made realistic choices about majors and careers.

Advocate effectively; Leaving the high school environment where parents and in some instances teachers had advocated for them, each of the students learned to ask for accommodations and press the case when they felt they needed more assistance.  They built effective alliances with faculty and service providers, understood procedures and utilized them, and had learned to navigate a complex organizational environment.  Even those students with disabilities that caused them discomfort in social settings had developed advocacy and networking skills.

Differentiate between their rights and their responsibilities - They knew when they had the right to request accommodations, and they understood their responsibilities as students in the college setting knowing that they needed to meet the high expectations of faculty and rigorous academic requirements. 

Organize and manage their time and workload;  All of these students had struggled in some way with the organizational and time management skills that are essential to succeed in college.  Each student had a unique challenge in this area beyond those faced by all college students.  For some, simply getting to campus using public transportation was a significant time management issue which could cause a great deal of stress.  For most, the increased academic workload required them to become more focused and organized.  Even those with significant learning, attention, and mental health disabilities learned survival skills in these areas. 

Access available resources; These students learned where to go for assistance before they got into trouble.  As simple as this sounds, not all students access the resources that are available on college campuses. When they reach an academic or personal crisis, they are amazed to find that help was available that could have prevented the crisis.

The situations described above may seem simplistic, but students with disabilities who succeed have the ability to communicate, advocate for themselves, manage time and resources, utilize their strengths, and make wise choices based on realistic self appraisals.  They can navigate complex organizational structures and find needed resources.  They did not start out with these skills and many never acquire them.  Designing programs and activities that support the attainment of these skills should be a high priority both at the high school and college level if we truly want students with disabilities to succeed.

           
 Mary Ann Cummins Prager is the Associate Vice President, Student Access and Support Services California State University, Northridge. She will write future columns.   Send your comments to Mary.Ann.Cummins-Prager@csun.edu.