Following the lives of disabled young people.

We’ve released 2 reports about disabled young people in the ‘Our lives, our journey’ programme. Our research report is accompanied by a life journeys report exploring these young people’s experiences in more depth, 2 years after we first met them.

We cover the following themes:

• moving into independence and adulthood
• public attitudes
• choice and control in education
• employment
• financial security

Transition to adulthood report

Life journey's report

Having recently become a mum, I’ve been nurturing my own little person. One day she’ll find her own independence, and I wonder about the paths she’ll take as she eventually navigates her way into adulthood.

My work as a researcher is focused around disabled young people in ‘Our lives, our journey’ and the many challenges they face as they transition into adulthood.

There’s still plenty more to understand so that Scope can encourage change in society and remove these barriers. But ultimately, this research aims to identify areas in society that should have fairer opportunities for disabled young people when finding their own independence.

Besides adjusting to the changes and responsibilities of adult life, disabled young people also face barriers in society, such as:

• restricted choice
• negative attitudes
• inequality

These are unnecessary added challenges for disabled young people who are trying to reach their life goals.

Planning a future as a disabled young person often comes with uncertainty. Limitations on choice and control mean their goals and aspirations can be unpredictable.

Support in education and employment is integral for disabled young people to have equal opportunity with their peers. The inequalities in society unfortunately dictate life opportunities and achievement. Assumptions and attitudes from staff, employers and colleagues about the capability of disabled people can have a significant effect on disabled students and employees. Attainment, self-confidence and aspirations are all negatively impacted according to our research.

Some disabled young people have stayed living with their family. This can enable them to be more independent.

Adam’s parents support him emotionally and financially which enables him to build his confidence working full-time.

But, for many young people independence is associated with being less reliant on their parent's support.

Moving out of the family home is a transition many young people find challenging. Disabled young people have the additional challenges of finding accessible accommodation that is also affordable.

Accommodation that is fully accessible and supports an individual’s needs costs much more to rent as consequence. Despite the cost, our research tells us that moving to a more accessible place results in a better quality of life for young disabled people.

Many disabled young people reported negative public attitudes that were specific to this age group.

For some disabled young people, their feelings of independence and confidence to go out and do things were damaged. This made them feel stressed and frustrated.

Younger disabled people are more likely to be affected by experiences of negative attitudes and behaviours. They are often questioned about being disabled and according to Scope’s attitude research, disabled young people are 3 times more likely to be accused of faking their condition than older disabled people.

They believed this was a lack of awareness and understanding about disability, so people would often make assumptions or stereotype them.

We learnt more about disabled young people applying for and going to university. They told us about their limited options for accessible places to study and lack of support around disability.

There have been some adjustments to teaching materials as a result the coronavirus pandemic. For example, universities introduced online lectures almost immediately.

This was unavailable to many students before lockdown which was frustrating for those students, cutting off an accessible way to learn.

One of our participants felt pushed out of university without the correct support before the pandemic and now reflects on how different their experience could have been.

Our research tells us that there are barriers in education such as unsupportive staff or not having the correct adjustments for lectures. Barriers in education slow disabled young people from finishing education and finding work.

Having appropriate support, and a good quality of education will put disabled young people in the best position for building confidence and a career.

Finding your first job is often a challenge for young people. Additional barriers for disabled young people make it even more challenging, such as lack of disability support in the workplace.

The difference in employment rates between disabled people and non-disabled people remain high. This ‘disability employment gap’ suggests that disabled people do not have equality in the workplace or jobs market. Employment rates are lowest for disabled young people compared to non-disabled young workers.

Some disabled young people have experienced unsupportive employers who show little awareness about disability. This led younger disabled employees to feel dissatisfied in their jobs.

We found that disabled young people with supportive employers feel secure and satisfied in their jobs. Having the appropriate support from employers is crucial for disabled people to find and stay in work.

Adam has expressed his loyalty to the company and his intention to stay with his employer long term.

As we prepare for the next wave of interviews, many disabled people have already been affected by the cost-of-living crisis. We’ll explore the impact this has had on their health and wellbeing, and how they can be supported. Concerns about paying for energy bills, leisure activities, travel, food essentials and affordable, accessible accommodation for young people are amplified as a disabled person.

Life costs more if you are disabled, so we want to understand how disabled people can be better supported. Disabled people should be able to live the life they choose, with the same equality in education and employment as non-disabled people.

This group of disabled young people show remarkable resilience, despite the barriers they face. They remain ambitious and are already achieving great things as they move into their own independent lives. It’s up to society to make opportunities more equal and break the barriers for all disabled people. We need to make a shift in attitudes throughout organisations, institutions and individuals across society.

Scope exists to support and work with all of these groups to achieve real change for disabled people. We believe that an equal society is a better society. One where all disabled people can flourish.

Watch this space as we begin to work on the next wave of disabled young people in ‘Our lives, our journey’, following their ever-changing life journeys.

Our disabled young people research is part of our wider longitudinal research, ‘Our lives, our journey’ (OLOJ).

This project has been following the lives of disabled people since 2018.