Young people with intellectual disability speak out about life after school: “I want to do more in life than just…be a disability person”

Figures & data

Table 1. Interview and focus group questions.

Topic	Questions
About you	Tell me a little about, yourself/ves where you live now – with whom what you are doing
About high school	Tell me about high school. Did you like high school? What did you like? Did you get help at school?
About leaving high school	Tell me about leaving school. Did you get help to plan for leaving school? What kind of help? How did you feel when it was time to leave school? Do you remember what you wanted to do after leaving school?
About the time after leaving school	Did you do any of the things you mentioned after leaving school? Did you have help to do any of those things? Who helped you? What else have you been doing since leaving school? What are/were the best things about leaving school? * What are/were the hardest things about leaving school? *
About you now	Are you happy with what you are doing? If not, what would you like to be doing? What other goals / plans do you have?
Other	Is there anything else you would like to add?

Notes: Prompts were used with questions as necessary to help generate conversation about each topic.

In the survey, most questions were phrased as fixed answer question with options to elaborate with text. Questions marked* were phrased the same.

Table 2. Characteristics of young people who participated in the study.

Pseudonym	Age	Gender	State	Participation	Activities after leaving school
Olivia	23	Female	TAS	survey	In disability service
Mia	19	Female	QLD	survey	Studying
Grace	18	Female	NSW	survey	Doing nothing
Sarah	22	Female	WA	survey	Studying, Working
Elena	18	Female	VIC	survey	Working
Charlotte	24	Female	NSW	survey	Studying, Working, Volunteering
Noah	20	Male	NSW	survey	Studying, Working
Sofia	19	Female	VIC	survey	Studying, Working, Volunteering
Jack	19	Male	QLD	interview	Volunteer
Kirsty	31	Female	VIC	interview	Studying, working
Haylee	24	Female	QLD	interview	n/d
Cameron	20	Male	NSW	interview	In disability service
Patricia	n/d*	Female	NSW	FG**	In disability service
Susan	n/d	Female	NSW	FG	In disability service
Ammon	24	Male	NSW	FG	In disability service
David	n/d	Male	NSW	FG	In disability service
Louisa	22	Female	NSW	FG	In disability service
Aisha	33	Female	NSW	FG	In disability service
James	31	male	NSW	FG	In disability service
Nick	29	male	NSW	FG	In disability service
Stuart	n/d	male	NSW	FG	In disability service
Thomas	20	male	NSW	FG	In disability service
Shyla	20	female	NSW	FG	In disability service
Robbie	23	male	NSW	FG	In disability service
Amelia	20	female	NSW	FG	In disability service
Hayden	21	male	NSW	FG/interview	In disability service
Paul	28	male	NSW	FG/interview	In disability service

*n/d: not disclosed, **FG: focus group.

Figure 1. Searching for meaning and purpose themes.