This study investigated the relationship between functional disability and perceived barriers to physical activity and exercise in persons with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Participants were 144 individuals with SCI (mean age was 44 years old; 61% were male participants; 41.3% had spinal cord lesion at the cervical level, 43.7% at the thoracic level, and 14.3% at the lumbar level) from the National Spinal Cord Injury Association in the United States. Data on physical activity and exercise participation were collected using a cross-sectional online survey and analysed using multivariate analysis of variance and hierarchical regression analysis. The primary research findings indicate that level of functional disability was a predictor of perceived barriers to physical activity and exercise. Moreover, health barriers were found to be a partial mediator for functional disability and physical health-related quality of life, suggesting perceived barriers may help to explain the association between functional disability and physical health-related quality of life.

There is concern that young people with visual impairment do not leave school adequately prepared for the workplace. Seventy young people from the UK with visual impairment (aged 16–19) took part in semi-structured interviews exploring how they define independence and how they predict they would deal with employment-based problems. Two overarching themes emerged: (1) how active/passive the young people felt they should be in solving problems (active–passive dimension), and (2) to whom (themselves or others) the young person attributed the responsibility for problems and solutions (internaliser–externaliser dimension). The results provide evidence of the importance of teaching young people disability-specific skills at school (an ‘expanded core curriculum’) which aims to maximise young people's independence while giving them a clear understanding of the accommodations to which they are entitled.

This study of young adults with disabilities in transition explored what factors contributed to young adults with disabilities terminating early from a transition program. Data from 6,227 young adults with disabilities aged 17–22 living in one of eight major metropolitan areas in the United States were utilised (58.7% of the sample were male, 63.1% were African-American, and 71.4% had a learning disability). All participants were enrolled in a school-to-work transition programme in which service providers place students into paid internships. Service providers at the eight sites collected data while working with participants, and then collected follow-up data at three and twelve months post-programme completion or termination. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to explore how personal factors impacted early termination, while controlling for variation at the site level. Results showed the three main reasons for early termination from work to be: programme initiated termination, interpersonal conflicts with coworkers or supervisors and transportation issues. Additionally, the multilevel model that controlled for variance at the site level demonstrated that Asian-American young adults with disabilities were less likely to terminate early from work. These results can help individuals who work with young adults with disabilities, provide supplemental services to students who may need additional assistance to succeed in a transition programme.

This study explored the lived experiences of family and socially networked others of survivors of drunk driving accidents in Sweden. Participants were 49 persons affected by drunk driving accidents: persons who had sustained traffic injury (n = 11), and their family members (n = 30) and friends (n = 8). Data were collected using a survey (either through web or postal). The results show a service gaps in providing for appropriate social support to traffic-injured persons and their family members and friends.