Discouraged by data showing that nearly 42 percent of college students failed to earn degrees within six years, policymakers, institutional leaders, and practitioners are turning their attention to closing completion gaps that impact nearly every facet of higher education.
The resulting movement has fueled impressive innovations, as institutions pore over data in search of insights that can help them deploy more targeted innovations. And it’s generating results: completion rates continue to inch upward, while states are even making progress on closing achievement gaps among low-income and minority students.
But, even with these efforts, there is a population of students that continues to largely be neglected and left behind. Around 6.5 million Americans, and as many as 200 million people across the world, have an intellectual disability. While there have been tremendous gains for students with disabilities overall in the past decade and a half, students with intellectual disabilities — characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior — are still struggling, attending college at the lowest rate of students from any disability category.
These opportunity gaps in higher education extend to the workplace and keep many adults with intellectual disabilities from fully entering the workforce. Just 28 percent of working age adults with intellectual disabilities have ever held a job and only 18 percent of adults with intellectual disabilities report that they currently have a paid community job. Individuals with intellectual disabilities that do manage to enter the labor force and find a job are generally underemployed, working part-time and earning less than the minimum wage.
The cost of not providing students with intellectual disabilities with the support they need to thrive on their campuses and complete their degrees or credentials is clear — as is the value that a higher education credential can provide these students. Fortunately, activists, researchers, and students and their families have come together to fight for the high-quality, supportive options that people with intellectual disabilities deserve. And institutions are starting to take notice.
In many cases, the challenge for individuals with intellectual disabilities is not just the rigor of college academics, but rather the complexity of navigating campus life and independent living. Many colleges and universities struggle to provide these adults with the support they need to chart a path to completion.
Hybrid learning programs that integrate online learning elements into in-person programs are now removing physical constraints from higher education. Institutions are tapping the potential of new assistive technologies to provide a more inclusive academic experience. Broader adoption of speech-to-text software and other types of screen reader technology are allowing students with disabilities who struggle with written text to better engage with course material.
