Unveiling Bias: College Programs and the Workforce

College students with learning disabilities cannot access the necessary programs and accommodations. Why can they not ensure they graduate and succeed in the workforce?

Cal Poly Pomona freshman Andrew Katz has auditory processing and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders, as well as speech and language impairment that led to struggles in the classroom.

“Sometimes, in the materials assigned to me, my teachers would get upset if I did not do it right,” Katz said. “They would get mad at me around my peers.”

College could allow a student like Katz, who is studying Computer Information Systems, to thrive if provided 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.

According to the LA Times, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would further improve opportunities for students with learning disabilities by continuing funding for programs designed to assist them.

“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,” said Newsom.

Bridging the gap between disabilities and politics requires students to become their advocates. 

The US Government must realize that students with learning disabilities are a part of these many programs because they need to learn to advocate for themselves.

Though the prospect may be scary, Judy gives us a sense of why disabled students need to be advocates for themselves.

“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,” said Judy McKinley, a member of the Los Angeles Learning Disabilities Association.  

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Colleges and universities gain fewer programs and staff each year to help support students with disabilities with their accommodations. This is why people do not have access to a network of accommodations for students with learning disabilities and the programs that are available for them.

So, the decision to continue these programs is promising, especially considering that fewer students with learning disabilities earn a bachelor’s degree compared to students who do not have such disabilities, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

When it comes to the students entering the workforce, they’ve found that it has affected many upcoming students with disabilities who apply for jobs.

“It exists to prohibit discrimination against disabled people, mandating that employers have to provide reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants or employees.” according to Teen Vogue.

The ADA helps people who apply for a job with the accommodations needed to succeed. This indicates that it protects disabled applicants from applying. However, State Sen. 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,” he said. “All the workforce segments need to do a better job with continuing education for professional development.”

Portantino, who said he has three disabilities, including dyslexia, argued that the world could become more accommodating to people with disabilities if the state works to increase programs that provide access. 

On the other hand, people with disabilities might have a job, but they will not get the same amount of pay or might not get a job at all because they have disabilities. 

“Disabled Americans are still three times less likely to have a job (and) often earn less for doing the same work,” President Joe Biden said in a recent statement, according to the Sacramento Bee. So even in the workforce, people with disabilities will also be cut down three times their regular salary.” 

Nearly 40% of people with disabilities are employed, and yet such workers are not granted the same rights or earn similar wages as employees without disabilities. 

If they cut collegiate programs that help prepare students with disabilities, advocate for themselves, and get the accommodations they need to succeed, it inevitably impacts their economic opportunities after graduation. 

“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.”