The Agency and Well-being of Taiwan`s Middle-school Adolescents with Disabilities: A Capability Approach Study

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a wave of utilising the capability approach for shifting the commitment of child disability policy from addressing impairments towards promoting child agency. Guided by the approach, the agency experienced by the 1,291 middle-school adolescents with disabilities within the 2011 Taiwanese Special Needs and Education Longitudinal database is explored. The analysis has led to the general finding that the big picture is an optimistic one, but it has also been elicited that about 40% of the sample was still suffering from different types of agency deprivation. Also, we have identified distinct configurations of personal, parental and school factors that are associated with their diverse agency deprivation. Notably, the agency status of adolescents with disabilities has been successfully proved to be closely linked to their functionings and capabilities. Based on these research findings, we end this paper with recommendations to service providers for enhancing the agency of these adolescents.