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Gender and Disability

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
WEEA Digest
Gender Matters: Training for Educators Working with Students with Disabilities

Introduction
In the United States 5.8 million children live with some type of disability, nearly half of them female. Women and girls with disabilities in this country are a large, diverse group varying along many dimensions, including disability type, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, age, and sexual orientation. Today many more students with disabilities are learning and achieving at levels previously thought impossible--thanks in part to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Over 1 million students who would have been institutionalized prior to this legislation are now being educated in local schools; almost 50 percent of students with disabilities participate in college course work; and twice as many youth with disabilities are likely to become employed.

The challenge now is to build on this success, paying particular attention to the role gender plays in developing education and work systems for both females and males with disabilities.