What Happens Next? – A Report on the First Destinations of Disabled Graduates

This report compares the employment outcomes of disabled and non-disabled graduates and provides real evidence of the effects of a disability on a graduate's employment prospects.

This latest edition reports on the first destinations of 2017 disabled graduates. Findings are based on the analysis of 330,080 graduates at first degree, postgraduate degree (taught) and postgraduate degree (research) level who responded to the 2016/17 DLHE survey. Of this number, 13.7% (45,175) identified themselves as having either a disability or learning difficulty during their period of study.

What Happens Next? has been produced annually by the AGCAS Disability Task Group for 17 years. Over the years these reports have unearthed that disabled graduates’ prospects in the labour market are better than previously thought. However, it remains the case that disabled graduates are still at a disadvantage when entering the labour market and that notable differences remain in the outcomes of disabled and non-disabled graduates.

Key findings from the 2019 report:

  • There has been a year-on-year increase in the proportion of graduates disclosing a disability (at each qualification level)
  • Whilst the likelihood of obtaining employment improved with increasing qualification level for both disabled and non-disabled graduates, the gap in total employment levels (between disabled graduates and those with no known disability) grew with increasing qualification level
  • Disabled graduates were more likely to be self-employed than non-disabled graduates (at all qualification levels)
  • Graduates with a Social Communication or Autism Spectrum Disorder were the least likely to have chosen their current role to fit a chosen career plan and among the most likely to have done so as a means to earn a living or pay off debts.

Download a PDF of the 2019 edition

Download a PDF of the 2018 edition

Download a PDF of the 2017 edition

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