A study of students with disabilities shows that such youths attended college and took part in volunteer and community services in far greater percentages than they had 15 years before.
SRI International, a research institute based in Menlo Park, Calif., compared outcomes in 1990 and 2005 using two federally funded long-term studies of youths with disabilities.
They found that, within four years of leaving high school, 46 percent of such young adults in 2005 were reported to have enrolled in a postsecondary school, compared with 26 percent in 1990.
The participation rate of youths with disabilities in volunteer and community services nearly doubled, from 13 percent in 1990 to 25 percent in 2005.
The study showed little change in employment outcomes. According to the study, 62 percent of youths reported being employed in 1990, compared with 56 percent in 2005.