Exploring Your Options

Set Goals

There are many options for continuing your education after high school, including community colleges, technical schools, four-year colleges and universities, and graduate schools. Think about why you want to continue going to school and that can help you figure out what type of education to do. For example, if you know what type of work you’d like to do when you finish school, that will help you figure out what type of school you should attend.

Develop a Plan

Once you know what your goal is for the future, you can learn what you need to do right now in order to make that goal become a reality. For example, if you know that you would like to become a veterinary technician, you can go to a technical school and get training. Likewise, if you know that you want to become a teacher, you’ll have to go to college.

Once you have thought about what sort of school you’d like to go to, you’ll also need to prepare yourself for the entire application process, including writing essays, doing interviews, and submitting other paperwork. However, figuring out what type of education you want to get and applying isn’t all you have to plan for. You also need to think about what each educational choice costs and what strategies exist in order to help you be able to pay for school.

Read DB101's complete article about Getting a Higher Education. It will help you decide whether you want to get more education and what types of education to consider. If you have been accepted into a school or are already attending one, the school also has information about how to pay for your education and the legal rights you have.

Set Goals

As you think about getting a job, try to set a long-term goal. Your goal should be a career that will help you make money, that you can do well, and that you'll find satisfying. Most people don't start off with a job that meets all of these standards, but by having a long-term goal in mind, you can figure out what steps you need to take right now to eventually get there.

Develop a Plan

Before you reach your long-term goal, you will have to get training and gain experience. You will also probably have several jobs. You will need to make a plan that ensures that you get the training and experience you need to advance in your career.

You’ll have to start by getting a lower level job. However, even getting an entry-level job is not easy. It requires a lot of preparation and work. You need to think about what sort of job will give you the experience you need, pay you enough to cover your expenses, and that you are qualified to do. You’ll also have to figure out if (or how) it will impact your benefits.

Then, once you’ve found some jobs that interest you, you have to apply for them. You’ll need to have a resume, practice interviewing skills, and more. And, once you get a job, you have to make sure it goes well.

Read DB101's complete article about Finding a Job. It includes information that can help you decide what type of work you might like, how to get training, and how to find a job. It also has information about important issues once you get a job, including how to conduct yourself at work, get accommodations, find programs that provide support, and know your right to be treated equally.

Understand Your Benefits

It’s important that you know what benefits you are currently getting and what they really provide. If your parents or others have managed your benefits in the past, talk with them and learn more about your benefits and how they help you.

Develop a Plan

Once you know what benefits you are getting, you can start to examine how they will change if you get a job or go to school. Depending on your situation, your benefits may go down, or even go up. Your benefits could also change as you get older.

If you already have a lot of information about the benefits you get and the amount of money you might make if you get a job, you can try DB101’s School and Work Estimator.

This tool, designed for young people with disabilities, takes all of the information you input and produces an estimate of what benefits you will qualify for after you get a job, get older, or go to school.

Read DB101’s complete article about Benefits for Young People. It includes clear descriptions of the most common public benefits that young people get and how they change as you get older. It explains Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a very important cash assistance program, and also explains several different types of health coverage, including Medicaid, Working Disabled Medicaid Buy-In, individual health coverage, and employer-sponsored health coverage. It also explains the different incentives that can help you go to school or get a job without losing these benefits.