268555 Some disabilities are more equal than others: Community college completion among youth with stuttering, obesity, and other socially stigmatized disabilities

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Janet E. Rosenbaum, PhD, AM , Department of Epidemiology, SPH, SUNY Downstate (Brooklyn), Brooklyn, NY
Community colleges have increased post-secondary educational access for youth who were denied access in past decades, including youth with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act protected people impairments in major life activities. This study identified disabilities that predicted lower educational attainment among community college students in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n=1774). For each disability, we estimated the relative risk of earning an associates (AA) or bachelors degree (BA) in 2008 using a Poisson working model with robust standard errors, controlling for pre-college factors in 1995, including high school grades, test scores, parents' household income, and school attachment problems. Seven percent (7%) stuttered, which predicted 57% lower likelihood of BA, after adjusting for pre-college characteristics (incidence rate ratio 0.43 (0.22, 0.84)). Twenty-three percent (23%) were obese, which predicted 20% and 33% lower likelihood of an AA and BA, respectively, after adjusting for pre-college characteristics (IRR 0.80 (0.68, 0.93) for AA; 0.67 (0.49, 0.91) for BA). By contrast, 17% had asthma, 6% were prescribed asthma drugs, 7% had visited psychologist, 5% were prescribed anti-depressants, and 6% and 5% had vision and hearing impairments, none of which predicted lower educational attainment. Colleges are morally and legally required to accommodate all students. This research finds that students with obesity and stuttering had lower educational attainment. These conditions are visible, socially stigmatized, and not always recognized as disabilities. Further research will identify protective characteristics that predict graduation among students with obesity or stuttering.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
From attending this session, participants will be able to describe the role of community college in the contemporary post-secondary educational system and identify disabilities that predict lower chances of graduation from community college.

Keywords: Education, Disability

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am principal investigator on 3 foundation grants to study community college students, and I have published several papers in adolescent risk behaviors in selective high-impact journals including American Journal of Public Health and Pediatrics.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.