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Perceptions Of Disability, Identity, Agency, Goal Attainment, And Young Adult Disability Programs, Rachel Elizabeth Kallem Whitman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Youth with disability are oppressed and marginalized by a dominant cultural narrative called ableism (Adams, Reiss, and Serlin, 2015; Campbell, 2015 as cited in Adams et al., 2015). Challenging ableism is a matter of social justice. Without serious attitudinal shifts and the removal of systemic barriers, our youth with disabilities will continue to experience negative outcomes and underdeveloped agency. This study was conducted to provide a more detailed look into how adults with disabilities, who participated in disability advocacy programs as youth, perceive their past involvement with such programs in relation to defining their disability, identity, and capacity for agency. …