Backlash against the inclusion of students with learning
disabilities in higher education: Implications for transition from
post-secondary environments to work
Affiliations: Kent State University, Kent, OH 44224, USA | University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106,
USA
Note: [] Kent State University, P.O. Box 5190, 405 White Hall, Kent, OH
44224, USA. Tel.: +1 330 672 2294; Fax: +1 330 672 2512; E-mail:
bcook@educ.kent.edu
Abstract: Individuals with learning disabilities (LD), the largest group of
people with disabilities in the United States, are attending college in greater
numbers than ever before. Post-secondary training is critical for individuals
with LD to make successful transitions into a changing and ever more demanding
world of work. Research indicating that college faculty are willing to provide
requested accommodations to students with LD suggests that they are
increasingly likely to experience successful post-secondary outcomes, and
therefore improve their vocational prospects. However, college students with LD
and the accommodations they receive have recently garnered some highly critical
press. These portrayals may portend problems in higher education for students
with LD, who must self-identify and make specific accommodation requests to
faculty in order to receive the instruction and testing environments that they
require to succeed. Efforts to ensure that the LD label is not ubiquitously
applied and that college faculty attempt to separate the idea of merit from
achievement and implement instructional practices to better meet the
educational needs of students with and without LD are recommended.
Keywords: transition, learning disabilities, college
