Scope and Nature of the Research

Abstract

There is a dearth of information about employment opportunities for and work experiences of handicapped school-leavers. The major studies of school-leavers in Britain have not dealt with the special problems of the handicapped¹ and the few that have investigated this aspect of the transition from school to work have been concerned predominantly with the experiences and needs of groups of young people with specific impairments or handicapping conditions. The most notable have been studies of young people with cardiac disabilities and mental retardation² hearing impairments³ and blindness.⁴ Only one national study has taken a broader approach — an investigation, carried out in 1971, of leavers from all types of special schools.⁵ But a major limitation of that important research was that information was obtained from young people or their parents by careers officers rather than by more independent means. Another recent study of handicapped and non-handicapped school leavers was confined to one locality.⁶ Thus, prior to the study reported here, no recent research into the employment position of handicapped young people had been based on information collected from a nationally representative sample.