Understanding and Planning for Adult Learners with Disabilities

Adult education as a field has long espoused ideals of equity in educational opportunity. In recent years, there has been considerable debate regarding the degree to which our practice lives up to these espoused ideals. This debate has been reflected in a growing literature addressing issues of race, ethnicity, and gender as they relate to adult education practice, research, and theory development. Yet, surprisingly, this debate has rarely included attention to disabilities as a dimension of equity. An interest in the relationships among disability, adult learning, and adult education practice has been reflected, albeit modestly reflected, in adult education literature dating back to the 1970s and 1980s (Travis, 1979; Ross-Gordon, 1989). During the 1990s several book-length discussions of adults with disabilities with the adult educator as the intended audience emerged (Gadbow and Dubois, 1998; Vogel and Reder, 1998; Jordan, 1998). Recently books on disabilities that adult educators would also find useful have emerged from other fields, particularly the fields of learning disabilities and disability studies, (Albrecht, Seelman, & Bury, 2001; Gerber & Reiff, 1995; Gregg, Hoy, & Gay, 1996; Linton, 1998; Marks, 1999). In addition to concerns for equity, an awareness of the relationships between adult learning and disabilities is important from a legal perspective as we become increasingly cognizant of the implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act for adult education practice. This issue of Adult Learning is an attempt to bring disabilities to the forefront as a concern for those planning programs for adult learners across a spectrum of settings. The articles included represent some of the common settings for adult education, and particularly those settings where educators have already devoted some attention to disabilities. Adult Basic Education and GED preparation programs are the focal point for the articles by Poison and White and Sturomski and Auchter. Gadbow, Goss and Rocco have contributed articles that will have the greatest applicability to higher education settings. For those interested in discussions with relevance to the workplace, the articles by Gadbow and Rocco should be of interest. The article least tied to a particular context of adult education practice is that of Plotts. Aside from the practice setting, another way to view the organization of this issue is in terms of three themes represented by the six articles. While they take different approaches, Gloss and Plotts' articles deal with having a disability that may affect one's efforts as an adult learner. Reading these first may help the reader understand Rocco's discussion of disclosure of disability and how the decision of disclosing a disability is an individual choice that must be revisited with every new educational opportunity. Finally, several of the articles deal with what AL readers may be most interested to discover--ways to accommodate the needs of adults with disabilities when making instructional and assessment decisions. Plotts and Gloss focus on what it is like to have a disability that affects one's efforts as an adult learner. Plotts presents the perspective of the diagnostic expert on what it means to have one of three categories of disability which adult educations encounter with some frequency and confusion: Learning disabilities (ED), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). She provides a succinct overview of the frameworks that serve as the basis for diagnosing these disabilities, as well as the legislative bases that necessitate appropriate accommodations for these disabilities across educational environments. She next describes the manifestations of each of these disabilities as they may be observed in the classroom or training setting, noting that while they may co-exist and even share certain indicators, they are each distinct in their characteristics. …