Career Planning: Issues and Challenges for Special Education Students with Learning Disabilities

Malaysia is estimated to have over 32 million people today and 2 million of them are disabled. The biggest challenge for the disabled today is the competition for job opportunities once they finish school. Some of these group are fortunate to be able to pursue higher education such as colleges and universities and some are home-based parents. In-short, the social and career development of the disabled depend on the people closest to them such as parents and teachers. Parents and teachers have played an important role in the early development of the sociology of special education students to look for opportunities and shape their direction after school. They have to compete with normal people to attract employers to fill the position they offered. This concept paper is designed to identify issues and challenges faced by special education students with disabilities or learning problem categories in preparation before entering the job market in the face of this increasingly challenging era. The issues and challenges to be addressed are the confidence of the parents themselves, the mastery of skills by special education or disabled students, the opportunities offered, the confidence of potential employers, and competition with normal people. The survey will be conducted on the target geologists such as parents, special education teachers and prospective employers using quantitative methods. The study will be conducted in 22 schools at Masjid Tanah, Melaka integrated special education programmed respectively. Hopefully, the findings of this study will open up positive views from parents, special education teachers and prospective employers on the employment needs of the disabled in the face of today’s socioeconomic competition.