YOUTH WITH VISUAL DISABILITIES: TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK

Executive Summary

Abstract: This project examined the career transition problems of young people with visual impairments as they moved from school to work and identified key components of selected transition programs. Twelve young people between the ages of 16 and 27 who were going through transition from school to work, had participated in the agency's transition program, and were either still in training or currently employed were selected from an educationally based and a rehabilitation based transition program. Interviews were conducted with young people, parents, rehabilitation professionals, and employers. Eighteen identifiable transition services were provided by the transition programs. The researchers found that the problems faced by young people in transition who have visual disabilities include overprotection by the system, overprotection by families, poor development of leisure time skills, limited choice of careers, and negative perspectives on disability.

The specific transition from school to work for students with disabilities has been the focus of particular attention since the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-112) and the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142). The rehabilitation legislation was essentially a civil rights act for people with disabilities which was reiterated by federal legislation mandating the education of all children with handicaps. The accountability of educational programs regarding the employability of students with handicaps has become a topic of interest to consumers, their parents, rehabilitation professionals, potential employers, government officials, and the general public. Likewise, the field of rehabilitation has significantly broadened its repertoire of rehabilitative services and its definition of eligible clientele. Since educational and rehabilitation institutions now share essentially the same clientele, with a mutual goal of employability, programs often intentionally overlap to assure a smooth transition.

The multiplicity of factors involved in the transition from school to work complicates accurate prediction of outcomes. Thus, the question remains regarding which programs "work" and which do not, and under what circumstances. There is a need for an understanding of the process of transition from school to work for persons with visual handicaps so that they can take informed advantage of the variety of services offered. There is a need for a description of common components that occur across programs and the roles of involved institutions, including the family, so that everyone can plan effectively. Finally, there is a need for a description of the apparent relationships of services to outcomes as a foundation for further research and suggestions for educational and rehabilitation practices. Previous research resulted in a publication by McBroom, Tedder, and Ji (1990) which described model programs and demonstration projects. The current project was undertaken to study the career transition problems of young people with visual impairments as they moved from school to work. Key components of selected transition programs were identified.

Method
Participants

Two programs charged with rehabilitation of people with visual handicaps in two states with noted transition services nominated 12 young people between the ages of 16 and 27 who were going through transition from school to work, had participated in the agency's transition program, and were either still in training or currently employed. One program was educationally based and one program was run through the rehabilitation agency.

All 12 of the nominated youth agreed to participate in the study. Participants included the youth in transition (client), parent(s), teacher(s), rehabilitation counselor, orientation and mobility specialist, employer, and any other person who played a significant part in the process. The roles described above constituted a "client cluster." More detailed information about the project methodology, results, and conclusions can be found in Tedder, McBroom, and Ji's technical report of the study (1990).

Data Collection

The researchers prepared semistructured interview schedules which included client characteristics such as vision etiology, age of onset, reading medium and ability, leisure time activities, orientation and mobility skills, and living arrangements. Educational components included service setting (local or residential school), service provider(s) (regular education teacher, special education teacher, trained vision teacher, orientation and mobility specialist), service model (itinerant, integrated, or self-contained), and graduation status (high school diploma or certificate of attendance). The type and number of transition services provided by education and rehabilitation agencies formed a third set of components. A fourth component addressed parental involvement in transition planning and implementation. Housing and transportation opportunities were a fifth set of components. Employment opportunities, work adjustment, and employer concerns and attitudes comprised a sixth and final cluster of issues. The interview schedules were used with each member of the client cluster. Rehabilitation and educational case records were reviewed to document demographic information. Transition program components were also verified in examinations of case records, Individually Written Rehabilitation Programs (IWRP), and Individual Educational Plans (IEP).

Questions generally followed the interview protocol, but prompts were used to elicit richer descriptive information, to clarify comments, and to raise any additional topics or components relative to the transition process. Interviews were conducted with 12 clients, 6 parents, 2 houseparents, 8 teachers, 4 employers, 7 rehabilitation counselors, 1 rehabilitation counselor/orientation and mobility specialist, 12 agency personnel, and 1 roommate (a total of 53 interviews). These interviews occurred in homes, schools, colleges, places of business, rehabilitation offices, and in the car. With the exception of one phone interview necessitated by logistical problems, all interviews took place face-to-face. An interpreter for the deaf assisted in three interviews.

Results

Client Characteristics

The participants range in age from 19 to 27, with the average age being 22. Seventy-five percent are white and 25% are black. Two-thirds of the participants are female.

All participants have congenital visual impairments, although several have additional visual problems that developed after birth. Four have both glaucoma and cataracts. Visual disability was caused by rubella for one and possibly two of the participants. Three are visually impaired because of retinal detachments. All of the participants, except for one, are legally, but not totally blind. However, their abilities range from being able to see relatively well to having very little functional vision.

Two participants have no other disability besides their visual disability. Three are either deaf or losing their hearing, three are classified as developmentally delayed, and three have emotional and/or behavioral problems.

Of the 12 participants, five live independently, either in a family or dormitory setting; five live in a dependent setting, either in a family or group home; and two function independently with some supports (supported housing or cooperative group home). The three people who live in custodial group homes are developmentally delayed (one also has behavioral and emotional problems). One of the two remaining people with emotional and/or behavioral problems lives in a cooperative group home for young women with emotional disturbances. The two young men with no additional disabilities live independently at home while awaiting the availability of college dormitory housing.

Three people do not use any mobility devices either because none were recommended or because they refused the recommendation. A fourth person refuses to use his cane, but has recently begun using a monocular to identify street signs. Three participants use canes, three use sighted guides, and two use both canes and guides. The three people who are developmentally delayed use sighted guides as a primary means of orientation and mobility. The participants in an independent living setting refused the use of a mobility device, use a cane, or did not receive a recommendation for a device. Three of the five participants in a dependent living setting use sighted guides; one uses both a guide and a cane. The fifth person in a dependent living setting has sufficient travel vision. None of the participants use dog guides.

Educational Programming

All of the participants graduated from public or residential high schools with either a diploma or a certificate of attendance. Of the six public school participants, all but one graduated with a diploma (83% earned diplomas). Within the residential group, four (67%) graduated with certificates. In this study the presence of additional disabilities, especially those involving developmental delays, is highly associated with attendance in residential schools and/or receipt of a certificate of attendance.

Participants were asked about the type of medium they use to read. Two people can see to read regular print, two use large print only, two use large print and assistive devices, and three use large print, assistive devices, and cassette tapes. Only one person reads braille. Among the public school participants, the average number of reading media is 2.5, while the average number among the residential school participants is only 1.

Participants were asked whether they read for pleasure or information beyond that required in school. Seven definitely continue to read (58%), three read "very little" (25%), and two do not read at all (17%). The vast majority of those receiving diplomas, 86% or six out of seven people, continue to read for pleasure or information. Of those receiving certificates, only one out of five continue to read to any degree. The two who do not read, not surprisingly, received certificates of attendance.

Description of Parental Participation

Ferguson, Ferguson, and Jones (1988) found four types of parental involvement in their study: surrender to professionals, abandonment by professionals, assimilation, and partnership with professionals. In contrast to Ferguson et al., abandonment by professionals did not appear in this sample, probably because of selection bias. This sample was selected by transition programs which were, by definition, not abandoning either parents or students. Consistent with the findings among post-P.L. 94-142 parents in the Ferguson et al. study, assimilation did not occur. No parent had become a professional in order to better serve his or her child.

Surrender to professionals did occur in this sample. In the cases of three of the subjects, the parental figure had not appeared to participate in planning, but had accepted what the professionals had decided. In two of the cases, multiple disabilities which included substantial retardation may have been part of the issue. In the remaining case, the parental figure was an elderly grandmother whose generational status may have influenced her participation.

A category of participation, "None," was created which indicates that the parental figure had abandoned the child at an age prior to transition planning, was deceased, or that custody had been adjudicated. This category was assigned to three of the respondents.

Two levels of "partnership" noted by Ferguson et al. (1988) in transition planning were found in this study. For two subjects, parents had a strong relationship as planners with their children. They were advocates, but not adversarial. In the cases of three other respondents, parents were present, consulted, and vocal regarding decisions, but seemed less influential, active, and involved. While both groups were engaged in "partnerships" as defined by Ferguson et al., there was a difference according to the degree of partnership.

One subject in this sample showed no parental participation. However, this occurrence seemed more like that of a situation involving a child without disabilities than an abandonment by parents. In fact, this subject was very active in high school and held various offices. She held several jobs in the family business. When she graduated, she moved to another state and referred herself to the rehabilitation agency. Her pattern has been very much one of self-advocacy.

Levels of Participation in Transition Planning

In addition to the description of parental participation in transition planning, the relative activity of various participants seemed worthy of note. In one case, the categorization of none for parental involvement is not negative. As previously described, this subject has been firmly in charge of her life and decisions since she graduated from high school. Five other subjects also had a strong participation level in their transition planning. Three subjects with a secondary disability of developmental delay were minimally involved in planning; their participation was probably more aptly described as assent. One subject also had minimal involvement because of serious emotional and behavioral problems. The remaining two subjects were slightly more involved. They had ideas about the kinds of things they like to do, but no idea about where they would work, what else they might want in a job, or how to obtain one.

Transition Services and Vocational Outcomes

There were 18 different services identified as being provided by either or both types of programs. These included braille instruction; low vision aids; activities of daily living; orientation and mobility; work adjustment; vocational training; on-the-job training; job development; job placement; higher education; evaluation; transportation to work; equipment, tools, uniforms; vocational adjustment counseling; job coaching; psychological counseling; medical services; and housing.

Service provision by program type. Even though the study addressed both a transition program conducted by an educational facility and a transition program conducted by a rehabilitation agency, both school and rehabilitation agencies were responsible for planning and service provision. Some services were provided by both agencies. Orientation and mobility was the most frequently duplicated service, provided to the same six clients by both rehabilitation and education.

There were no clear distinctions between the two types of program providers: "rehabilitation" and "school." Each program provided about the same range of services. Most service differences seemed to be primarily a function of the mandated responsibility of each type of agency. For example, the educational program, which was residential, provided housing for clients when they were involved in a high school program. Rehabilitation was able to fund clients in higher education and provide vocational/adjustment counseling and psychological counseling.

Frequency of services. No participant in this sample received all 18 of the identified services. Receiving the fewest services did appear related to sheltered employment. The clients who are developmentally delayed and who are also employed in sheltered workshops received the fewest services. This tendency was seen in both types of programs.

Number of people receiving services. The numbers of clients who received each service were summed. A surprising piece of data was the provision of job coaching. Only the education program provided this service, and then to only two clients. Only three clients received braille training, two were pursuing higher education, two received psychological counseling, and two required medical services. Identifiable placement services could be discerned for only seven clients. The most frequently provided services were activities of daily living, orientation and mobility, and evaluation, which all clients received in at least one program.

Vocational status. The current vocational statuses for the participants are mixed. Two are in competitive, full-time, permanent employment. Four are employed in sheltered workshops. Three participants are still in training: two in college and one in vocational school. Two have worked previously, but are temporarily unemployed because of lay-offs. One participant is employed temporarily.

One of the interesting points about current vocational status is that the personnel of both programs have referred to the clients as "having successfully completed the transition process." It appears that a more correct reference, with the exception of one client who is functioning independently, would be that the clients are successfully involved in the transition process. In other words, the system is still functioning; it has not given up on them; there are alternatives remaining and resources still to be tapped.

Discussion

Implications of Failure

Overprotection by the system. One of the criticisms made by people interviewed in this study concerns the failure to require the same type of performance from the visually impaired student as from the sighted student. Well-meaning professionals within the system reason that the student is "doing pretty good for a blind kid and, therefore, should be promoted." Unfortunately, the result is a graduate without the necessary academic skills to obtain a job.

An additional deficit imposed by an overly-lenient system that "protects" through social promotion is that many students never experience failure and learn how to recover from it. One participant's vocational rehabilitation counselor criticized some of the student's earlier teachers, saying, "[They] allowed him to be disorganized. Teachers and others would not let the crisis go through." As a result he continues to miss deadlines and usually experiences lenience from others.

An employer warned against overdependence of the visually impaired person on the blindness system: "Maybe the fault of the blindness system [is that] people learn to expect that when something is needed, someone will take care of it and solve the problem. We, as workers for the blind, may need to teach that the situation is not always `give! give! give!' At some point the umbilical cord has to be cut."

Somehow the system, which itself constitutes an anomaly, must provide a "normal" experience. In its mandate to ensure that every possible client will succeed in becoming employed, the system must also provide the experience of failure.

Overprotection by families. Families are another source of overprotection. Some participants were not allowed to perform certain tasks because they "might make a mistake." Other clients achieved a degree of appropriate job training and held several jobs in the community, but still had not made the move to independent living. A cycle of dependence feeds upon itself as the parent, often under very difficult circumstances, takes the easy way out.

Use of Leisure Time

A great deal of time and effort were spent on vocational goals. However, some clients needed instruction in using leisure time. Higher functioning clients had social groups, independent activities, or hobbies. Clients who were at a lower functional level were "programmed" through after work activities. Few had any method of productive, independent leisure time activity. Clearly, transition programs must deal with issues of leisure time.

The Influence of Familiarity upon Vocational Goals

A common observation in the rehabilitation field is that young people with visual impairments choose vocational goals related to the narrow range of jobs with which they come in contact (e.g., counselor, mobility instructor, rehabilitation teacher) or, perhaps, the occupations of their parents. Two participants provided evidence of this. Because of a life-threatening health condition, one client spent a great deal of time in the hospital. She wanted to become a nursing assistant because she saw these people function during her hospital stays. In another example, a client sought employment in a state agency because it was "familiar" to her. Although her personal knowledge of the equipment in question does make her particularly skilled in answering questions, it has not occurred to her or to her counselor that she could perform a similar job for another employer.

Perspectives on Disability

One of the factors that repeatedly arose was the attitude of the individual and that individual's family toward the disability. Perspectives on disability can be positive or negative. One participant intends to deny that he has a disability. His family has not actively pursued the services that could have been made available to him. They do not think he should apply for Social Security benefits because it might make him "too dependent on the system."

Another participant, who has no apparent disability, revealed himself as disabled when he could not obtain a driver's license. He matter-of-factly approaches his professors and tells them what modifications he requires. He did not have special education services until he was 16 because his need for them was not apparent, his family moved frequently, and the educational screening programs missed him. This family overcame their initial feelings of protectiveness and encouraged him to discover his own limitations as well as his abilities.

Vocational Outcomes

Service provision by disability group and vocational outcome. When considering the services provided relative to vocational outcome, fewer services were provided to clients with lower cognitive ability. These were also the clients who were employed in sheltered workshops. Discounting one client who refused many services, the average number of services provided to clients who are not cognitively disabled was 13. The average number of services provided to clients who have cognitive disabilities was 8. The presence of a secondary disability other than cognitive, such as deaf-blindness or an emotional disturbance, did not have a similar relationship. Further research should investigate the appropriateness of any relationship between the number and type of services provided and the cognitive ability of the client.

Program differences. Because there is a housing shortage at all income levels in the city where the school administered program is located, provision of housing for their clients is a necessity. The school administered program also provides transportation as part of its transition program. Although public transportation is quite good in the area, these clients were the most disabled by secondary conditions and will probably remain dependent upon "handicapped" transportation.

The program delivered by the rehabilitation agency has poorer transportation services, but the clients in that program were not as severely disabled by secondary conditions. Housing in that area was not as difficult to locate. A higher level of functional ability of the client does appear related to more housing alternatives. This higher general functional ability also seemed to permit these clients to effectively take advantage of whatever transportation was available.

Quality of Life: Prognosis

Independence in future jobs. While it is generally recognized that the vocational rehabilitation process is time limited, it is also recognized that clients may be served over and over by some rehabilitation agencies. This may depend upon the particular eye disease, since many are slowly progressive. In addition to the changes resulting from the eye disease, there may be instances where clients need additional rehabilitation services to advance in their jobs, because of changes in the job market, or due to a need for adaptive technology to retain a position.

The probability that an employed client will need vocational assistance in the future is an issue of interest to vocational rehabilitation agencies. Some agencies and counselors feel that clients will occasionally return for additional help if they should need to locate another job. Other agencies and counselors believe that the initial pass through vocational rehabilitation should be all that is needed: the client should have all the skills necessary for upward mobility and job changes. In this sample, the researchers concluded that only 3 of the 12 participants have the capability of continued independence if they should need to find a new job due to unemployment. The other clients will all need help if they should lose a job. The workers in sheltered employment are entirely dependent on help from some agency.

Client satisfaction. Clients served by both programs appeared to have had opportunities designed with their needs in mind. There was no suggestion that clients had been forced into any vocational mold or prescribed outcome. It is difficult to assess the quality of life of each client in terms of general satisfaction. The clients who wanted "more" seemed to be able to define "more" and pursue it. These clients appear to have reasonable life satisfaction.

The clients of most concern are those who have either no expressed ambitions or only very general ideas about what they want from life or from a job. Researchers and program providers are always challenged to try to put themselves within the experience of people of very low cognitive ability. Out of the best humanitarian motives, while walking the thin line between protection and independence, programs are planned that seem to best meet each client's needs. These particular clients appear to be in situations that will provide continued care and concern despite their vocational status. Their care is comprehensive and they do not appear to be in a personally precarious position should their employment fail.

Conclusions

It was not the purpose of this research to establish that transition programs administered by education are superior to those administered by rehabilitation or vice versa. These two programs are of equivalent merit with no glaring service gaps. Both programs are open to cooperation with other agencies. Clients and parents play a fairly substantial role in planning. Omission appears to be by client choice.

Future research should further investigate service provision to people who enter sheltered employment. In this study, the small number of services afforded these clients may be entirely due to sample selection. However, each case of sheltered employment was also associated with a secondary developmental disability. It is important for future research to determine that this relationship is not causal. The potential positive influence of job coaching with clients who are blind and developmentally disabled also merits investigation.

Although there may be more than 18 identifiable transition services, the services enumerated herein appear to constitute a basic set. Probably the most important observation is that there is no particularly identifiable set of factors which seems to lead to employment. The key to successful transition from school to work appears to be carefully selected services planned by a number of persons truly concerned with each client, a process which includes both client and parents whenever possible. Someone must take a primary responsibility for the planning, but the stronger the involvement on the parts of all participants, the more positive the outcome seems to be.

Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. (1975). Public Law 94-142, 89 Stat. 773, November 29.

Ferguson, P. M., Ferguson, D. L., and Jones, D. (1988). Generations of hope: Parental perspectives on the transition of their children with severe retardation from school to adult life. Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 13(3), 177-187.

McBroom, L. W., Tedder, N. E., & Ji, K. (1990). Youth with visual disabilities: Transition from school to work (selected readings). Mississippi State: Mississippi State University, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision.

Rehabilitation Act of 1973. (1973). Public Law 93-112, 87 Stat. 355, September 26.

Tedder, N. E., McBroom, L. W., & Ji, K. (1990). Youth with visual disabilities: Transition from school to work (Technical Report). Mississippi State: Mississippi State University, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision.

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