You may have heard the term “College is not for everyone…” and I suppose that really is true. I am not here to force anyone into my preferred existence of being in school forever. I don’t believe that anyone should have to go to college if they do not want to. I also believe that anybody who wants to go to college should have that opportunity, and that includes students with intellectual disabilities.
“How can that work?” you might ask. Well let me tell you, that was probably the exact same question teachers in public elementary and secondary schools were asking in 1975 when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed, mandating that students with disabilities have the opportunity to be educated in public schools. Just like much of public special education programming, college may look a little different for students with intellectual disabilities, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. The social value of inclusion in age appropriate and natural environments for young adults with disabilities alongside their peers cannot be ignored.
Fifteen of these programs for students with intellectual disabilities exist in the state of Illinois to date, and hopefully the number is growing. This was made possible by the Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEOA) of 2008, which created opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities to attend institutions of higher education alongside their nondisabled peers. Students in these programs have opportunities to learn academic, vocational and daily living skills in a more inclusive environment than is offered in many other types of transition programming.
You may now be thinking, “Well now this seems a little too good to be true,” and my answer to that would be “Well no, but also yes.” There is no shortage of caveats to these programs. The first being, like any college in the U.S., they cost money. How much varies, and there are some ways around this…however chances are families will end up paying at least something in some way for these programs. Another caveat is that they are somewhat exclusive. I know that sounds counterintuitive for a whole genre of programming built on the premise of inclusivity, but unfortunately it is not inclusivity for everyone. It is generally inclusivity for students with intellectual disabilities but no behavior problems and above a third grade reading level, so I suppose we can use the term inclusive with a bit of a grain of salt here.
Despite these caveats, I think these programs are really promising and really exciting. I think they signal the start of a more inclusive future for all people with disabilities. They may not be the pinnacle inclusive transition programming models, but they are a good start.
Students talking about how inclusive transition programming has benefitted them.
For more information on college programming for students with intellectual disabilities visit
For more information on how you can access funding for these programs visit
https://lesley.edu/article/paying-for-a-transition-program
