College students' use of disability supports
Do students with disabilities use them and does the type of institution make a difference?
US Institute of Education Sciences published a “Data Point” about students with disabilities who do and do not tell their colleges about those disabilities. “Data Points” are brief IES publications that report analyses of IES data on “topics of current interest.”
The “Data Point” entitled Use of Supports Among Students With Disabilities and Special Needs in College, authored by Tara Adam and Catharine Warner-Griffin, included data from more than 23,000 students who were ninth graders in 2009. In 2016, those students responded to a survey about their college situation (e.g., type of institution), whether they considered themselves to have a disability, whether they were using services, and more.
The report focused on differences between types of post-secondary institutions students later attended (e.g., 4-year and 2-year colleges). It included three figures.
One figure (see following) from the “Data Point” showed proportions of students with a disability who (a) did not report a disability while attending college, (b) responded “yes” to having a disability in college and told college, or (c) responded “yes” to having a disability in college and did not tell college officials about the disability.
Another figure showed percentages of students who disclosed a disability in college and received accommodations.
A third graph showed differences between students who did and did not report a disability in college and the percentages of them who (a) used academic support services, (b) requested help, and (c) took remedial courses across across 2-year and 4-year colleges.
Download the entire “Data Point” (2-page pdf). The data come from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). Please note that the data are often self-reported, so limit any interpretations of them accordingly. For example, “students who reported a disability in college” includes those who said they had difficulties with concentration. Read the fine print carefully, and follow the links in the “Data Point” to background and supplemental information.
Yes, grateful, but, I wish I could get excited about these data... 2016 is a LONG TIME AGO given the speed (and ways) the world is changing. Should we be worried about making statement/decisions based on reported experiences of young adults that may not reflect current reality?
These are good data. In a recent google scholar search, I could not find national survey data from a large population of college-age youth designed to address this question. Yes, these data need to be updated, but 2016 is better than 2009! A couple of points to make: (a) we know that self-report data using a psychometrically valid and reliable survey are indeed valid reports about a given construct from one's own perspective, describing one's experience in response to the questions; and (b) the link provided to the IES data point doesn't work--that's because it appears that the NCES website is down. Try again later!