Facts about Youth with Disabilities

While some youth with disabilities have attained successful careers without participating in a transition program, most do not have such a positive experience.
A number of facts clearly demonstrate the need to improve transition outcomes for students with disabilities:

Youth with disabilities, especially those with significant disabilities, often experience poor educational outcomes and desolate prospects for work.

1out of 5 adults with disabilities has not graduated from high school, compared to less than 1 out of 10 adults without disabilities.

57.6 % of youth with severe emotional disturbances
36 % of youth with learning disabilities drop out of high school.
14 % of youth with disabilities attend postsecondary school, as compared to

53 % of youth in the general population.

Two years after graduation, more than 70 % of youth with disabilities are still unemployed.

Only 26 % of working-age adults with disabilities have a job or own their own business.

People with disabilities are nearly 3 times more likely than people without disabilities to be living in households with total incomes of $15,000 or less.

Reference: Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation.