The US Government Accountability Office recently released a report titled "Higher Education and Disability: Education Needs a Coordinated Approach to Improve Its Assistance to Schools in Supporting Students" The full report is online at: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-33

Below are some of the many interesting points:

• More students with disabilities are pursuing higher education
• In particular, veterans with newly acquired disabilities are enrolling at high rates
  
• In general, students with disabilities are similar to their peers without disabilities
  
• Assistive technology has expanded educational opportunities
• Awareness of disability and accessibility needs to increase
  

A few highlights from the report cited above

Characteristic	Students with Disabilities		Students without Disabilities
	2000	2008	2000	2008
Female	59.3	57.7	56.3	57.1
Male	40.7	42.3	43.7	42.9
White	72.3	67.4	68.1	62.5
Black or African American	11.5	13.2	12.3	14.5
Hispanic or Latino	7.9	11.3	10.4	13.4
Asian	2	3.5	4.5	5.4
American Indian or Alaska Native	2	.8	.7	.9
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	.9	.6	.7	.7
Other	1.2	.3	1.5	.3
More than one race	2.3	2.9	1.8	2.3
Age 23 or Younger	42.5	54.9	59.9	61.5
24-29	16.6	20.2	16.9	16.8
30 or Older	41	25	23.2	21.6

Breakdown of main type of disability

 

Main Type of Disability	2000	2004	2008
Mental, emotional, or psychiatric condition/depression	17.1	22.3	24.3
Attention deficit disorder (ADD)	6.7	11.6	19.1
Orthopedic or mobility impairment	29	24.8	15.1
Other	13.2	5.8	15
Specific learning disability, dyslexia	5	7.7	8.9
Hearing impairment	6.8	4.7	6.1
Health impairment or problem	15.1	17.3	5.8
Blindness or visual impairment	5.2	3.7	2.7
Speech or language impairment	.3	.5	.7
Brain injury	1.2	1	1.7
Developmental disability	.6	.6	.7

 

Note that demographic data for DSS students is consistent with national norms for the most part, though we have at times had higher rates of students disclosing specific learning disabilities, higher rates of orthopedic or mobility impairments, higher rates of chronic health conditions, lower rates of mental health related disabilities, lower rates of attention deficit disorder. 

	National 2008	DSS 2008	DSS 2010
Mental, emotional, or psychiatric condition/depression	24%	11%	20%
Attention deficit disorder (ADD)	19%	12%	10%
Orthopedic or mobility impairment	15%	26%	13%
Other	15%	11%	14%
Specific learning disability, dyslexia	9%	22%	20%
Hearing impairment	6%	8%	8%
Health impairment or problem	6%	4%	13%
Blindness or visual impairment	3%	4%	3%
Brain injury	2%	2%	2%
Developmental disability	>1%	>1%	>1%

 

Comparisons regarding gender and ethnicity are largely consistent with UAA more broadly although there are higher percentages of students from under-represented ethnic groups.

	African American	AK Native or Amer. Indian	Asian/Pacific Islander	Caucasian	Hispanic	Other
UAA 2010	4.2%	7.1%	7.7%	65.8%	5.4%	10.7%
DSS 2010	6.5%	9.6%	3.7%	64.9%	7.2%	6.7%