ABSTRACT
Recent developments in the United Kingdom are indicators of a greater number of students with disabilities in higher education. However, there are many areas where further developments need to take place. In the last chapter Myers and Parker analysed the current state of play in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the situation for students with disabilities has been buoyant for some time. This chapter details the ways in which legislation there is more comprehensive, especially in that mental as well as physical disabilities are covered. Major concerns in the United States range from employers feeling they may be forced to hire ‘murderous lunatics’, the discerning of ‘unseen’ learning difficulties, to the view that learning disabilities are an invention of the middle classes that cannot accept their children being average.
The amount of money being spent by the Federal Government on the ‘learning disability industry’ necessitates questioning the disability culture that is perceived as encouraging students to focus on their weaknesses rather than their strengths. Perhaps even more worrying is the mis-match between education establishments where students with learning disabilities may get a lot of support, and places of employment where disabled people are not welcome, despite their qualifications.
The new millennium should not only see a proper implementation of current legislation in Britain, but use the examples from the United States to make wider the framework within which students with disability are seen. Otherwise new developments could remain tokenistic.
