Across the United States young women with disabilities are experiencing economic and educational disadvantages. Although post-school outcomes have shown improvement, young women continue to experience high unemployment rates, low wages, and high rates of poverty. In this study, I explore the experiences of four teenage girls who have been labeled as having learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities. Through in-depth interviews, supported collage making, document review, and the AIR Self-Determination Scale, I examine how they experience girlhood, schooling, and transitions. I consider the ways in which adolescent girls with disabilities negotiate special education, social relationships, and the salient and permeable borders of girlhood and adulthood. I consider how the policies and practices of special education both produce and police gendered narratives of behavior and compliance.
I also examine the liminal space of post-school transitions. I contemplate issues of equity and access to opportunity, while examining the consequences of labeling, segregation, and interlocking systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender on these opportunities. Further, I consider the participants' diverse understandings of and experiences with self-determination. In the conclusion, I present a framework for a more equitable and culturally responsive approach to transitions and describe the implications of this study for teachers, parents, students, and teacher preparation programs.
","abstract_html":"<p>Across the United States young women with disabilities are experiencing economic and educational disadvantages. Although post-school outcomes have shown improvement, young women continue to experience high unemployment rates, low wages, and high rates of poverty. In this study, I explore the experiences of four teenage girls who have been labeled as having learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities. Through in-depth interviews, supported collage making, document review, and the AIR Self-Determination Scale, I examine how they experience girlhood, schooling, and transitions. I consider the ways in which adolescent girls with disabilities negotiate special education, social relationships, and the salient and permeable borders of girlhood and adulthood. I consider how the policies and practices of special education both produce and police gendered narratives of behavior and compliance.</p> <p>I also examine the liminal space of post-school transitions. I contemplate issues of equity and access to opportunity, while examining the consequences of labeling, segregation, and interlocking systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender on these opportunities. Further, I consider the participants' diverse understandings of and experiences with self-determination. In the conclusion, I present a framework for a more equitable and culturally responsive approach to transitions and describe the implications of this study for teachers, parents, students, and teacher preparation programs.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cowley, Danielle"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Teaching and Leadership","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Steve J. Taylor"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:54:37Z","subjects":["Adolescent girls","Equity","Gender","Self-determination","Special education","Transitions","Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd/246","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Steve J. Taylor"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cowley, Danielle"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Teaching and Leadership"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Adolescent girls","Equity","Gender","Self-determination","Special education","Transitions","Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd/246"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Across the United States young women with disabilities are experiencing economic and educational disadvantages. Although post-school outcomes have shown improvement, young women continue to experience high unemployment rates, low wages, and high rates of poverty. In this study, I explore the experiences of four teenage girls who have been labeled as having learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities. Through in-depth interviews, supported collage making, document review, and the AIR Self-Determination Scale, I examine how they experience girlhood, schooling, and transitions. I consider the ways in which adolescent girls with disabilities negotiate special education, social relationships, and the salient and permeable borders of girlhood and adulthood. I consider how the policies and practices of special education both produce and police gendered narratives of behavior and compliance.
I also examine the liminal space of post-school transitions. I contemplate issues of equity and access to opportunity, while examining the consequences of labeling, segregation, and interlocking systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender on these opportunities. Further, I consider the participants' diverse understandings of and experiences with self-determination. In the conclusion, I present a framework for a more equitable and culturally responsive approach to transitions and describe the implications of this study for teachers, parents, students, and teacher preparation programs.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"Being Grown\": How Adolescent Girls with Disabilities Narrate Self-Determination and Transitions"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Steve J. Taylor"],"dc:creator":["Cowley, Danielle"],"dc:description.abstract":["Across the United States young women with disabilities are experiencing economic and educational disadvantages. Although post-school outcomes have shown improvement, young women continue to experience high unemployment rates, low wages, and high rates of poverty. In this study, I explore the experiences of four teenage girls who have been labeled as having learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities. Through in-depth interviews, supported collage making, document review, and the AIR Self-Determination Scale, I examine how they experience girlhood, schooling, and transitions. I consider the ways in which adolescent girls with disabilities negotiate special education, social relationships, and the salient and permeable borders of girlhood and adulthood. I consider how the policies and practices of special education both produce and police gendered narratives of behavior and compliance.
I also examine the liminal space of post-school transitions. I contemplate issues of equity and access to opportunity, while examining the consequences of labeling, segregation, and interlocking systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender on these opportunities. Further, I consider the participants' diverse understandings of and experiences with self-determination. In the conclusion, I present a framework for a more equitable and culturally responsive approach to transitions and describe the implications of this study for teachers, parents, students, and teacher preparation programs.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd/246"],"dc:subject":["Adolescent girls","Equity","Gender","Self-determination","Special education","Transitions","Education"],"dc:title":["\"Being Grown\": How Adolescent Girls with Disabilities Narrate Self-Determination and Transitions"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Teaching and Leadership"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:54:37Z"}