In this paper, the relevance of biographical reflections in educational transitions of people with disabilities and their families is presented. Discussing and reflecting on biographical experiences, especially around the context of education, is considered significant by people with disabilities and their families because of mostly predefined life trajectories (Felbermayr, Fasching, Hubmayer, 2019; Love, Zagona, Kurth, Miller, 2017; Singh, 2019; Weiler, Keyzers, Scafe, Anderson, Cavell, 2020). Experiences of exclusion and discrimination, lack of choice, special education, lack of preparation for employment, missing participation in decision-making and standardised transitions are not uncommon in educational pathways of people with disabilities (Fasching, Felbermayr, 2022). Narratives, due to such experiences, emerge under more difficult conditions and are often not recognised as such, which is why they are less often considered in research studies. However, it is precisely these experiences, as they were also collected from parents int the FWF project “Cooperation for Inclusion in Educational Transitions”, that are insightful and represent broadening perspectives of dominant social conditions.

The presented outline of the problem leads to the question of individual experience and subjective description of biographical experiences in the context of disability. Which biographical experiences do parents of children with disability address in Reflecting Teams? The reflections in this article refer to parents’ experiences of disability in relation to their adolescent children in the educational transitions after compulsory schooling, which invites retrospection and reflection on their self-experienced transition and thus establishes a generational perspective on educational transitions in the context of disability (Siegert, 2021).

The basis for this presentation are transcribed observation protocols from three Reflecting Teams with four parents (with/without disabilities), which were collected within the project “Cooperation for Inclusion in Educational Transitions” (project number: P-29291-G29, project leader: Helga Fasching; https://kooperation-fuer-inklusion.univie.ac.at/en/). Over a project period of five years (10/2016 bis 9/2021), an intensive examination of the parental experiences of youths with disabilities in educational transitions took place. The project is framed by the constructivist Grounded Theory according to Charmaz (2014) (initial coding, focused coding).

The results of biographical reflections with parents in group settings are analysed and the significance of biographical reflections for the use of educational transition counselling is presented. It becomes clear that the experience of educational transitions for parents of children with disabilities represents a biographically highly reflective phase for them. The discussion of biographical reflections in educational transitions is recommended.

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