For most American teenagers, life after high school means transitioning into adulthood and finding one's own path to independent living. Most will choose to get further education, while others may move on to the workplace directly. Whatever the chosen path, there will be a new set of challenges, especially for those with disabilities.
Written by women who have helped many high school graduates with disabilities that ran the spectrum (learning, emotional, medical, and physical, etc) successfully transition into college, trade school, or the workplace, this book calls attention to what those challenges are and the tools available to teenagers with disabilities and their families for working through those challenges.
The first tool is a set of laws that give the disabled and their advocates legal support for seeking reasonable accommodations to help the disabled achieve his or her potential in school and in the workplace. The authors identify the major laws that readers need to become familiar with (they cover only a handful of the really important ones so no need to run for cover thinking you'll need to learn so many of them!), and explain, in simple language, what they do and do not mandate.
Other tools come in the form of empowering knowledge about services that government agencies, educational institutions, and testing organizations can provide to the disabled, how to engage or apply for such services in a timely fashion, what documentation may be required to ensure that requests for accommodations or services are legitimate, and what mistakes to avoid.
Perhaps the most important advice the authors can impart to disabled teenagers and their families journeying through this rite of passage is the one they echo throughout the book: to the fullest extent possible, the disabled teenager must learn how to become his or her own best advocate, by becoming in touch with him or her self, taking responsibility for his or her own well-being, and not letting people speak for him or her whenever possible. Yes, this can be difficult, but some of the stories told in this guide about how some disabled teenagers were able to do this with thoughtful support from their families can serve as useful, perhaps even inspiring, blueprints.
Overall, I thought this guide covers a lot of grounds, is easy to read, and provides plenty of resources for follow-on research. The disabilities covered are diverse, and the discussions about issues arising from such disabilities and their potential remedies are thoughtful and helpful, but always realistic.
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2010
- Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2010
