The road to employment begins in high school. However, few youth with severe disabilities currently participate in paid employment before graduation. The purpose of this study was to map the breadth of barriers that can hinder youth from accessing this influential transition experience. We held individual (n = 8) and focus group (n = 16) interviews with 74 transition stakeholders, including parents, educators, adult agency staff, school district leaders, and local employers. Collectively, they identified 47 barriers falling within eight broad categories of challenges: school, student, family, workplace, service system, partnership, transportation, and community. Although there were areas of clear consensus, noticeable differences were evident in the concerns raised by each of these five stakeholder groups. We present recommendations for research and practice aimed at connecting more youth with severe disabilities to early work experiences that can change their post-school employment trajectories.

就业之路始于高中。然而，目前很少有重度残疾青年在毕业前参与有偿就业。这项研究的目的是绘制出可能阻碍青年获得这种有影响力的过渡经历的障碍的广度。我们举行了个人（n = 8）和焦点小组（n =16) 采访 74 位过渡利益相关者，包括家长、教育工作者、成人机构工作人员、学区领导和当地雇主。总的来说，他们确定了 47 个障碍，这些障碍属于八大类挑战：学校、学生、家庭、工作场所、服务系统、伙伴关系、交通和社区。尽管存在明确共识的领域，但在这五个利益相关者群体中的每一个提出的关注点中存在明显差异。我们提出了研究和实践建议，旨在将更多患有严重残疾的青年与可以改变他们毕业后就业轨迹的早期工作经历联系起来。