Maximizing Success:
Transition Planning for Education After High School for Young Adults with Chronic Illnesses

By Andrea Edelman

Reprinted with permission from  HEATH the National Clearinghouse on Post-secondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities, Volume 15, Number 1, October/November 1995.

The HEATH Resource Center Advisory Board has discussed the issue of chronic illness among collegestudents and has identified it as an important topic about which little information is available. TheBoard has welcomed its partnership with the Adolescent Employment Readiness Center (AERC) of the children’sNational Medical Center to begin discussion of this topic. Andrea Edelman, author of this article, iscareer development counselor at the AERC, which is the only such program in the nation. She works withPatience White, physician and AERC founder and executive director, who recently was awarded an AmericanAchievement Award by Newsweek magazine for creating the program. We have asked Edelman to begin discussionof the topic of planning for education after high school for students with chronic illnesses by statingsome of the issues and raising some of the questions to be addressed in a fuller paper on this topic.Under White’s supervision, Edelman will expand this article during the next year and HEATH will publishit as a HEATH Resource Paper.

More than one-third of newfull-time college freshmen with disabilities have chronic illnesses (including but not limited to kidneydisease, allergies, diabetes, cardiovascular illness, cancer, cystic fibrosis, arthritis, muscular dystrophy,seizure disorder, epilepsy, asthma, sickle cell disease, or immune deficiency), according to the HEATHResource Center's College Freshmen with Disabilities - A Triennial Statistical Report (1995). Chronicillnesses, unlike blindness, deafness, or mobility impairments, usually are not visible to others. Oftenthey are neither considered a disability by the person with the chronic illness, nor even known to thosewith whom he or she interacts. But even if they do not consider themselves disabled, people who live withchronic illnesses face many challenges throughout their lives. In many cases, they identify and arrangefor accommodations and support systems similar to those used by individuals with other disabilities thatenable them to participate in a variety of settings, increase their comfort, and maintain their health.Depending on the effects of his or her chronic illness, a person may qualify for civil rights protectionand support services as an individual with a disability. Thus, people with chronic illnesses may wantto learn about the laws (The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990)that protect individuals with disabilities, and about how these laws can increase their ability to participatein post-secondary education. Both laws protect people who have physical or mental impairments that substantiallylimit one or more of their life activities.

This articlehighlights the need for young adults with chronic illnesses and their families to plan adequately forthe transition from high school to post-secondary education or training — which may include college, tech-prep,vocational education, career school, or other types of formal education. Issues commonly faced by youngadults with chronic illnesses as they plan for education after high school will be outlined. The articleconcludes with a request for your input about real life hurdles and solutions, to help young adults withchronic illnesses identify possible transition issues they will face and learn how to resolve them.