Disabled youth represent a specific population whose unique phenomenological condition resides in the particularity they can generate from challenges that make life difficult. Despite being marked by physical, cognitive, sensory, or developmental hindrances, these individuals face numerous obstacles that shape their lives and careers in education, employment, and society. The spectrum of disabilities is broad and encompasses physical impairments, sensory limitations, and mental and intellectual issues. This paper critically analyzes identity intersectionality in youth studies, specifically for people with disabilities. Also, the problem of youth with a disability is prioritized therefore due to wide cultural and economic dimensions. Part of the reason for this research is that disability comes together with ethnicity and class, making young people’s lived realities intricate in their details. By dealing with leading youth researchers, we try to disentangle the tangled web of relations that structure both challenges and opportunities for meant by young people living with a disability. This essay is divided into two sections; the first section focuses on understanding viewpoints and how ethnicity influences young disabled persons while gender affects their lived realities. The essence of this essay is to provide a vivid image using selected key documents in Youth Studies and the voices of young people on how disability, ethnicity, and class intertwine in shaping identities among youth.
Understanding young people with disabilities
Youths with a disability are a very diverse population that has some individualities as they gain entry into the threshold from childhood to adulthood. The scope of ‘disabilities’ is vast; it can refer to physical/ sensory disabilities, cognitive disorders, as well as different developmental conditions (Bertschi et al., 2021, pg. 12). The problems that these young people commonly face, limiting their opportunities in terms of education and employment for social integration, include the following. Life realities of youth with disabilities may vary in many ways depending on disability, socioeconomic status, and support systems within communities. The way society reacts to disability through attitudes, access, and inclusiveness is vital in determining the opportunities plus the general wellness that people with disabilities have.
Challenges that youths with disabilities face include education and employment issues, among others. They may have challenges accessing inclusive and accessible education settings. Poorly equipped facilities, assistive technologies, and educated staff are some elements that reduce enrollment rates while increasing the risk of dropping out. Studies indicate that the dropout percentage among youths with a disability is about two more than their non-disabled peers (World Health Organization, 2023, para.4). Following these adolescents into adulthood, the issues persist in terms of employment. They are treated negatively through stigma and discrimination as well as lack sufficient accommodations, which leads to more unemployment than their non-disabled peers. Despite the advancement made via legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there is still an extensive challenge regarding educational or leadership opportunities for people living with such disabilities.
Social inclusion and acceptance, both outside the settings of schooling or employment, are fundamental to conceiving a positive life for mentally challenged youths. Most of them face stigmas and myths and lack consciousness, which makes isolation. Inaccessible areas, both physical and social ones, deepen this exclusion. Empowering disabled youths means tearing down physical barriers, deconstructing negative stereotypes, and establishing a culture of acceptance (Mohan & Mohan, 2021, pg.15). Programs that enhance awareness, break down myths and ensure accommodation is known to alter the social lives of disabled youth. In this regard, the main factors influencing the quality of life of youths with disabilities include acknowledging their rights to participate fully in community activities and providing a sense of belonging and personalized support.
The Impact of Ethnicity on Youth with Disabilities.
The influence of ethnicity on disabled youth is deeply shown in educational differences, which allows us to understand the complex interaction between cultural forces and education. Recent studies show that about 60 percent of minority ethnic disabled youth have persistent educational results that are lower than their white counterparts (Bisesti & Landes, 2021, pg. 34). This includes inequality in access to educational resources and the presence of cultural insensitivity within the arena of academia. The disparities result from the limited inclusion of diverse cultural perspectives in curricula and the lack of resources designed to meet ethnic minority students with disabilities-specific needs. Moreover, many educators’ cultural incompetence often results in miscommunications, reducing harmonious and inclusive learning environments.
The effects of ethnicity in terms of disabled youth transcend from just education to another area that matters to do with their employment opportunities. However, due to the researches that show higher levels of joblessness among disability youth in concerned ethnic minority layers, more levels of discrimination are added. Research by Chao et al. (2022) revealed that the attitude toward disability is also negatively affected by various racial prejudices that limit job offerings and progress in careers. The stereotypes and prejudices directed toward the capacity of disabled ethnic minority individuals deny them entry into workplaces. Employment differentiation among the youth is brought by hiring discrimination, lack of reasonable accommodation, and unequal promotional opportunities.
The role ethnicity plays in the capability to learn disabled youth is discussed widely through educational variances, demonstrating cultural factors and learning methods. Nowadays, as much as two-thirds of minority youth disabilities show uniformly inferior educational outcomes to their white peers. Challenges are numerous, from the unfair distribution of microscopes and laboratories to cultural insensitivity toward students (Dabo,2023, pg.71). These differences are partly caused by the minimal representation of cultural variety in school systems and the absence of adequate materials focused on the specific needs of different ethnic minorities with disabilities. In addition, the educators’ cultural incompetence is another factor hindering the development of supportive and accepting educational environments.
However, the impact on work and employment opportunities made by disabled youth’s nonhierarchical ethnicity comes out much deeper than their educational background if they play such roles during various kinds of jobs or others. According to research findings, greater levels of discrimination are increasing the unemployment rate among these disabled and minority youth. The study by Friedman (2020) uncovered that institutional racism strengthens the discriminatory character of prejudices related to disability, providing little opportunity for employment and promotion. Overgeneralization and prejudices about the potential abilities of disabled ethnic minorities are limiting employment opportunities. The actual unfair employment among the youths is calculated from discrimination during the recruitment process, inappropriate facilities, and very limited chances for career growth.
To understand fully how ethnicity affects narratives of disabled youths, a detailed discussion on intersectionality, barriers, and societal beliefs is crucial. Intersectionality is already in the minority of youth with disabilities. The people’s experiences are particular and complicated, but intersections make them broader. Social alienation results from prejudices based on racial backgrounds and disability (Catrone et al., 2022, pg.66). This conjunction illuminates one stubborn level above race or disability, which suggests the need for an immediate multidimensional approach regarding diversity. Ethnicity is also made worse by a clear disparity in the availability of necessary health and support services, as well as the fact that it can sometimes be challenging to find medical treatment catering to cultural concerns about disability (Malbon et al., 2022, pg.42). They also state that most medical facilities have a great part of the population in these communities cut out. Language will always hamper getting an accurate diagnosis or treatment for many adolescents.
Moreover, the current forms of support could be culturally insensitive and lack some features characteristic of ethnic minority youth with disabilities. However, the incapacity to assume a holistic approach only increases their weakness. It specifies the management of complicated situations where they are, claiming to be a suitable engine for smart solutions in culture-sensitive services at health institutions and care organizations.
While threats are ubiquitous, the question of how ethnicity affects disabled adolescents can be solved by involving these persons in empowerment and advocacy. These young people are to be given different identities that should not only be respected but also be appreciated so that they can have cultural autonomy and individual right to protest. Such advocacy should focus on eradicating systemic barriers, promoting cultural consciousness in schools and workplaces, and challenging public prejudice. Participatory programs involving community leaders, educators, and policymakers, as well as advocates with disability, may participate in the way that paves the road to reforms (Weber et al., 2020, pg.17). Through normalizing the minority voices among ethnic youth with disabilities, a reduction in barriers that exacerbate disparities can be achieved by fomenting inclusive policies and cultural competence support within society.
Class dynamics in the lives of disabled youth students.
The class-related interference induces such a strong life force among youths with disability that struggle by no means limited to academic struggles alone. In the case of harassment and bullying, students with disabilities have been mistreated by other peers in school. The forms of discrimination that will be derived from the grounds of disability include verbal abuse, rejection, social shunning, or even physical violence. Evidence shows that 65% of disabled learners are bullied at one time or another while in their schools, which is a malicious percentage. This finds its expression in varied malpractice, including name-calling and laughter, that will result in social exclusion as well as physical violence, ultimately creating an environment hostile to these students. This hostile environment also ensures the reproduction of anxiety and fear for these students; this means that their brains are unable to appreciate a good school life. At the same time, all those involved generally feel estranged by bullying and discrimination, which prevents the further development of their intellectual potential in youth only with disabilities.
Another significant construct that the class dynamics lead to is low self-esteem among youth with disabilities. They will feel devalued as they are pushed through an under-developed system regarding inclusivity guidelines. It also has the students generalizing social discrimination and self-identifying with disability in an attempt to adapt. The internalized stigma may lead to low self-esteem because the person cannot participate in classroom exercises and discussions or have friends (Habeeb Omoponle Adewuyi, 2023, para. 4). However, low self-esteem is the last defense against good academic performance and social belonging.
Other than individual struggles, systemic constraints that are fostered by the class power structures associated with disabled youth continue working against their efforts to achieve academic success. In some environments with few features suitable to accessibility provisions, there is substantial variation in support groups and accommodations for disabled students’ requirements. It might be insufficient learning materials or lack of practice that fosters learners’ involvement, which occurs beyond the classroom walls and in an individualized manner. A happy ending to a story may lead to disillusion, indifference, or alienation, which is further magnified by the increased educational inequalities between other students and those with special needs (Starks & Reich, 2023, pg.29). Therefore, to respond to such class issues requires universal means that facilitate inclusivity and consciousness development. At the same time, eliminating barriers to students’ capacity for education continues within a nourishing context informed by potentiality and well-being.
Young People’s Perspectives on the Intersectionality of Identity.
Disability blurs among identity intersections because young people with other disabilities demonstrate a precise description of the complex scheme where they present themselves in individual cases, determining how disability includes others. As such, Teodor Mladenov & Brennan (2021) uncovered that disability is not treated in isolation but regarded as a conjunction where the gender and race of an individual coalesce with their socioeconomic status. In 2023, a study revealed that most of the endowment – around three quarters – demonstrated enhanced awareness of their attached identities as it was usually seen as, in part, being gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and capability (McNabb, 2023, para.2). disabled youths travel over some very challenging terrain wherein disability and other social markers bear on their diverse manifestations of existence and the nature of their problems. For instance, a disabled person may encounter problems unique to accessibility. But with other identifications, including race or gender, the challenges are doubled, bringing a larger distinction and privilege. Such young voices indicate a necessity to promote the awareness of diversity in disability conditions and policies promoting inclusivity based on individuals’ needs, influenced by various intersections between disability and other identifiers.
Additionally, there is the triumph of identity as changeable and unreceptive to stereotypes shown by young disabled that further enhances this theme. Disabled youth propagate these social practices that supersede the awareness of disability and feel like specimens apart from other human beings. The former is deficit-free in terms of agency, acknowledging culturally constructed frameworks that shape disability youth and accounting for different intersections equally. This requires society to break free from the disability paradigm and reach intersectionality modeling that incorporates all differences in disablement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from the point of view of disabled youths’ views on their identity are understood as written in different lives, which are not equal. These problems reveal a wide range of dimensions that have a disparity in gender, race, socioeconomic status, and many other classifications them. Some of the issues that must be addressed using these young narrators are outlined by their disability woes. They try to reform societal views by admitting that diversity includes intersectional differences. Based on the analysis of these stories, we, therefore, can say that authentic inclusion is deconstructing stereotypes and equalizing opportunities for teenagers with a disability while they remain themselves. Thus, their intersectional spectacles develop into a weapon that destroys all paradise’s limits and creates paths for everyone’s equality.
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