40 Big Ideas

Summary

Many students with disabilities were unprepared to get a job, live independently, or participate fully in community life. In 1990, a U.S. law required schools to create transition plans that helped students get ready for adult life, and a lot of people saw that these services could help everyone. Around the world, different traditions and students’ differing abilities, interests, and cultural backgrounds present challenges for providing effective individualized transition services. Acknowledging these differences and taking a person-centered approach has been invaluable.

Each young person’s path to adulthood is influenced by where they live, how they spend their time, and what talents and support needs they have. In 1990, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required U.S. schools to create individualized transition plans for students with disabilities who are 16 and older. The plans provide employment, independent living, education, and community living services to support students’ transition to adult life.

As schools saw success with these plans, they began providing similar services for all students, moving the idea into broader educational practice. Transition planning now provides a more holistic, individualized approach to preparing students for more successful futures. For students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD), this has also meant better connections to support systems they will need after leaving school. It also includes services to support young adults with IDD as they move from pediatric to adult health care services.

The individualized nature of these plans, however, significantly affects the challenges and successes young people encounter during this time in their lives. Students’ differing abilities, interests, and cultural backgrounds present challenges for providing effective individualized transition services. Likewise, different regions within countries and different countries emphasize varying goals and values in the process. While transition planning is written into law in the United States and some other developed countries, in other countries, including those in Eastern Europe, transition for youth with disabilities is more organically incorporated into a vocational training school system that focuses on developing specific skills (e.g., carpentry, culinary arts, masonry, hospitality, or graphic design). The emphasis in North American countries and Europe is typically on transition to independent living and employment.

In developing countries, including those in South Asia, transition is considered a responsibility of the family and extended family and is often influenced by religious beliefs. There is no or limited infrastructure for transition services, and families face stigma when they make efforts to integrate their young adults into the community.

While there are some clear differences in transition planning across countries, there are also differences within countries, creating similarities among certain types of communities. Urban settings in general tend to have more service options (e.g., schools, work-based learning opportunities), while rural settings tend to have more natural opportunities for participation during transition. In the rural United States as well as rural Bhutan, for example, one can witness transition-age youth included in local festivals and other community activities that are driven by family or extended family.

Acknowledging these differences and taking a person-centered approach has been invaluable. It is especially relevant during turmoil and change. War in Ukraine, famine in Gaza, redistricting in U.S. states, and migration of refugees all affect youth during this critical juncture in life. We cannot follow a transition plan for youth without understanding their individual, family, community, and systems circumstances.