Exploring the relationships between race, ethnicity, and school and work outcomes among youth and young adults with disabilities: a scoping review

Abstract

Purpose

Youth with disabilities often encounter barriers in finding meaningful employment and completing post-secondary education. Such challenges are often even more profound for youth who identify as an ethnic minority. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationships between race, ethnicity and school and work outcomes for youth with disabilities.

Methods

We conducted a scoping review while searching eight international databases that identified 49 studies meeting our inclusion criteria.

Results

Of the 49 studies that were included in the review, they involved youth and young adults with disabilities (aged 6–29) over a 21-year period. The majority of the studies focusing on school showed that ethnic minority youth with disabilities had poorer school outcomes compared to white youth with disabilities. Meanwhile, most studies focusing on work reported that ethnic minority youth with a disability had worse employment outcomes compared to white disabled youth. Factors influencing school and work included cultural differences in expectations, inequitable access to services and resources, and discrimination.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the disparities that exist for young people with disabilities from ethnic minority backgrounds. There is an urgent need for further research to understand their lived experiences to help address gaps in school and work outcomes.

Implications for rehabilitation

• Clinicians and educators should help to provide ethnic minority youth with equitable resources and opportunities to help them achieve their school and career goals.

• Clinicians and educators should consider participating in culturally sensitive care training to better understand the different needs and experiences of ethnic minority youth with disabilities.

• Clinicians and educators should try to work collectively with parents and ethnic minority youth with disabilities to optimize their transition outcomes.

Keywords:

• Employment
• culture
• ethnicity
• race
• school
• youth

Acknowledgment

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. The authors thank the TRAIL lab staff for their support in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was provided, in part, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (CIHR-SSHRC) Partnership grant and the Kimel Family Fund through the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.