Disability, Society, and the Individual

Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) lists thirteen separate disability categories, students with disabilities are generally viewed as belonging to one of two overarching groups: low incidence disabilities (LI) or high-incidence disabilities (HI). LI disabilities are rare, and do not exceed 1 percent of the school-aged population at any given time; whereas HI disabilities comprise about 10 percent of all children in public schools.

Studies have focused on the experience of diagnosis from the perspectives of parents of children with learning disabilities, but there has been limited methodologically rigorous investigation into the experience for the person themselves. Eight participants were recruited from a range of different backgrounds. Interviews were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis.