Hispanic youth/young adults with disabilities: Parents’ visions for the future. Research and Practice for Persons With Severe Disabilities

The rapid increase of culturally and linguistically di-verse populations in the United States has important im-plications for service delivery. Addressing the needs of individuals transitioning from adolescence to adulthood and their families requires that outcomes of service rec-ognize the cultural differences of people with disabilities. The Hispanic population is one of the fastest growing of the culturally and linguistically diverse populations in the United States. To provide effective support services, a clearer understanding is needed of the perspectives of Hispanic parents of youth/young adults with disabilities concerning their hopes and expectations for their child’s future. To address this issue, focus group interviews were conducted with 38 Hispanic parents of youth/young adults with developmental disabilities. The findings sug-gest that Hispanic parents have a diversity of hopes and expectations concerning future living, employment, and free-time options for their children with disabilities. Key recommendations focus on the implications for educa-tion and human service systems as well as directions for future research. DESCRIPTORS: Hispanic, transition, visions, quali-tative Research on the post-school outcomes of students with disabilities making the transition from high school to adulthood indicates that most students with disabili-ties do not fare well after leaving school (Ysseldyke et al., 2000), often graduating to segregated, dependent, nonproductive lives (Blackorby & Wagner, 1996; Na-tional Center for Educational Statistics, 2000; National Council on Disability, 2001). Over the past two de-cades, discouraging post-school outcomes for graduates with disabilities have changed perspectives on the tran-sition from school to adult services for individuals wit