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Researchers have found that enhanced self-determination can contribute to integrated employment and social inclusion outcomes for adults with disabilities. This chapter will provide an overview of the Self-determined Career Design Model (SDCDM) and research on its implementation. The SDCDM is an evidence-based career design model implemented by a facilitator (e.g. school professional, community service provider, or any supporter) to enable young people with disabilities to design their career trajectory. The SDCDM has the three phases: (1) set a goal, (2) take action and (3) adjust goal or plan. The SDCDM promotes social inclusion by enabling young people with developmental disabilities to leverage their strengths, interests and resources available to reach self-selected career-related goals. The chapter will specifically consider factors (e.g. culture, family background) that influence the development and expression of self-determination and goal-directed behaviour across the lifespan. A case study of the implementation of the SDCDM with two young women with developmental disabilities who participated in a larger study examining the impact of the SDCDM on employment outcomes will be used to demonstrate the use and impact of the model.

Promoting the self-determination of youth and young adults with disabilities has become best practice in the field of special education. Such efforts have been shown to positively impact student educational goal attainment, access to the general education curriculum, student involvement in educational and transition planning, and more positive postschool outcomes. This chapter discusses the self-determination construct, reviews the literature pertaining to what is known about promoting self-determination and goal attainment, and introduces assessments, evidence-based practices, and strategies for promoting student involvement.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the fastest-growing disability in the US; despite years of federal policy aimed at enhancing employment outcomes for this population, these outcomes remain limited. Little is known about the allyship strategies used to support job seekers with ASD to communicate with potential employers. The current study assesses self-advocates with ASD and supporters of people with ASD (e.g., family members, caregivers, employment specialists, vocational rehabilitation professionals) about the advocacy strategies they have implemented during the hiring process to enhance communication with employers. Study participants rated the effectiveness of the strategies that others may use, as well as the strategies they have used when seeking employment for an open position. Finally, a variety of psychological variables (e.g., self-determination, self-advocacy, global self-esteem, mentorship, incivility) were measured that are suspected to influence the use of these strategies in seeking employment. Findings inform effective support and advocacy strategies as well as ways that varying psychological variables predict the use of these strategies, informing personalization of interventions and supports for self-advocates and allies.

Since the passage of Public Law 94-142, federal law has prioritized the education of students with disabilities with their non-disabled peers in the context of the general education classroom. This chapter examines the progress, and often lack thereof, with regard to educating students with extensive and pervasive support needs in inclusive settings. We examine current trends in placement, factors that contribute to those placement practices, and what IDEA says about the education of students with extensive and pervasive support needs. We examine what the research suggests happens in substantially segregated settings and then, in contrast, examine impacts and outcomes for students with extensive and pervasive support needs who are educated in inclusive settings. We also examine trends resulting from changing paradigms of disability that provide new opportunities for re-invigorating efforts to educate students with extensive and pervasive support needs in inclusive classrooms.

Historically, the condition we now refer to as intellectual disability has been conceptualized using models that were extension of the medical model. Recent advances, however, have emphasized person-environment fit models of disability that view disability, intellectual, and other cognitive disabilities, as the lack of fit between a person’s capacities and the demands of the context. This chapter examines these shifts in conceptualization and the ways in which this changes how interventions are designed to provide support to enable people with intellectual disability to live, learn, work, and play in their communities. Such interventions and supports include issues pertaining to Universal Design for Learning, multi-tiered systems of supports, and the primacy of promoting the self-determination of people with disabilities. The importance of efforts to promote social inclusion is also discussed, as well as strategies to promote transition to adulthood. Authors from several countries provide examples of how these new intervention paradigms are being implemented across the world.