Post-school options for young adults with intellectual disabilities in Sweden

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine life after school for young adults with intellectual disabilities in Sweden. It identifies a snapshot of the post-school destination in 2011 of students of Swedish Upper Secondary Schools for Pupils with Intellectual Disability (Special Secondary Schools), who graduated between 2001 and 2011. This national registry study used personal identification numbers to link data for about 12,269 former students in the Halmstad University Register on Pupils with Intellectual Disability with data about labour market participation and service provision under the Swedish disability legislation (Swedish LSS Act, 1994, the Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons With Certain Functional Impairment). Results showed that the largest proportion (47%) of former students participated in disability day programs, known as “daily activities”; 22.4% were employed, most with some type of wage subsidy; and 6.6% participated in various types of further education programs. A sizeable group (24%) were described as being “elsewhere”, not engaged in employment, education, or disability day programs. The type of post-school occupation is associated with gender, the type of educational program undertaken at secondary school, and age. The authors found a high risk of young people with intellectual disabilities falling through safety-net welfare or post-school participation provisions. Even in a country such as Sweden, which has comprehensive post-school programs, almost a quarter of young adults with intellectual disabilities were socially excluded, without education, disability day programs, or employment.