The transition experiences of students with disabilities who participated in a community college secondary transition program: a narrative inquiry

Abstract

This study arose from personal practice and the narrator's awareness that, in current research, scant attention is given to hearing from young adults with disabilities who have successfully negotiated the transitions from high school, to community college, to employment. The method for this study is narrative. Four young adults with disabilities tell the stories of their lives and their transition experiences. The narrator, who has for many years entered into relationships with students during this critical transition time period, interweaves her experiences with those of the young adults. The four young adults and the narrator Join in the recollection and reflective process. The research findings are presented as letters to the young adults, as they share their voices, actions and feelings. Layers of meaning emerged: the mundane and the sacred story, the journey towards self-determination and responsibility, the thorny transition struggle and the linchpin for success, the secondary at postsecondary transition program, formative and deformative relationships, commitments and allegiances, special education service and insulation, the emergent vision of success, and the formative nature of transition and the formative narrative experience. Ambiguities and tensions are associated with students leaving the protective special education environment, often ill prepared and vulnerable as they transition into adult roles. The grist, the potential for successful outcomes, braced by tangible transition programming which in this case, is student involvement in a community college secondary at postsecondary transition program, guide this study. The narrator hopes those who relate to young adults with disabilities will listen to the voices of the four young adults and to her own.