College students with learning disabilities cannot access the programs and accommodations they need to ensure they graduate and succeed in the workforce.
Student Andrew Katz at California Pomona College
Cal Poly Pomona freshman, Andrew Katz, has auditory processing and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders. Katz additionally struggles with a speech and language impairment that challenges him in classroom settings.
“Sometimes, in the materials assigned to me, my teachers would get upset if I didn’t do it right,” Katz said. “They would get mad at me around my peers.”
College could allow a student like Katz, studying computer information systems, to thrive if given the proper accommodations and support. However, college students with learning disabilities cannot access the programs and accommodations they need to ensure they graduate and succeed in the workforce.
California Governor, Gavin Newsom, proposed a budget that would improve opportunities for students with learning disabilities. In this, Newsom aims to continue funding for programs designed to assist students like Katz.
“We’re making sure to preserve programs that serve millions of Californians, including key funding for education, health care, expanded behavioral health services, and combating homelessness,” Newsom said.
The U.S. government must realize that students with learning disabilities are a part of these many programs. In turn, bridging the gap between disabilities and politics has now required students to become their own advocates.
“Students with disabilities who are in college are old enough to learn to advocate for themselves and find ways to understand the accommodations that are needed for themselves,” Judy McKinley, member of the Los Angeles Learning Disabilities Association, said.
Each year, programs and support staff to aid students with disabilities decline within colleges and universities. This is why students with learning disabilities do not have access to a network of accommodations nor available programs.
According to a Pew Research Center study, fewer students with learning disabilities receive a bachelor’s degree compared to those without said disabilities, However, the decision to continue these programs is promising.
When it comes to the students entering the workforce, the study found that it has affected many upcoming students with disabilities who apply for jobs.
According to Teen Vogue, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) exists to prohibit discrimination against disabled people, mandating that employers have to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants or employees. The ADA helps people who apply for a job receive the accommodations needed to succeed. Moreover, protecting disabled applicants.
State Senator Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) feels colleges and universities must improve their programs for students with learning disabilities.
“I think we have to do a better job in career transition and training,” Portantino said. “Continuing education for professional development is something that all the workforce segments need to do a better job with.”
Senator Portantino, Member of the California State Senate
Although people with disabilities may be employed, often, they will not receive the same amount of pay or nor receive a job all. Portantino, with three disabilities—including dyslexia—argued that the world could become more accommodating to the disabled if the state works to increase access programs.
In a recent statement to the Sacramento Bee, President Joe Biden regarded that disabled Americans are still three times less likely to have a job (and) often earn less for doing the same work. Nearly 40% of people with disabilities are employed, however, such workers are not granted the same rights or earn similar wages as employees without disabilities.
If collegiate programs that support disabled students are cut, it will inevitably limit their post-grad economic opportunities.
“As a society that puts a premium on that population and makes corporations in the corporate world partners in that effort,” Portantino said,” I think we can get some people with disabilities jobs.”
Ava DeJesus is a reporter with JCal, a collaboration between The Asian American Journalists Association and CalMatters to immerse high school students in California’s news industry.
