Home
Tags
No Tags
Travel Training: an Exploration of the Importance of Public Transportation for Suburban Students with Disabilities
| Title: | Travel Training: an Exploration of the Importance of Public Transportation for Suburban Students with Disabilities |
| Author: | Baginski, Jessie Guidry |
| Description: | High school students with disabilities, like most teenagers, envision a life of independence after high school including the ability to go to college, work or travel. Yet many students with disabilities will never be able to drive a personal vehicle, thereby blurring those visions with the reality of their dependence on others to get to their destinations. Travel training, a process of learning how to use local public transportation, has the potential to increase the mobility, freedom and opportunities of students with disabilities through enhancing independence and self-advocacy skills. For students with disabilities living in suburban areas, public transit routes are not as plentiful and frequent as in urban areas, making the training more challenging, yet no less important, in its potential to reduce the potential of unemployment and increased isolation for students with disabilities when high school ends. This study provided eight weeks of travel training to high school students in a suburban environment to measure its impact on students with disabilities perceptions of independence, self-confidence and self advocacy. Training included in-class units on personal safety, map and schedule reading, trip planning and preparedness, followed by a field trip using public transportation. The training enhanced the decision-making and self-advocacy skills of the students. Exploratory interviews revealed ethnographic themes of need for acceptance by society, prejudice, post-secondary education, and desires for typical independent lifestyles. |
| Permanent Link: |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=marietta1209573613
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/4209 |
| Date: | 2008 |
Files in this item
| Files | Size | Format | View |
|---|---|---|---|
|
There are no files associated with this item. |
|||