" Higher Education Project" 2011 : American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)

AAPD Launches Higher Education Project

This year, AAPD has launched the AAPD Higher Education Project, which will organize students with disabilities to create a powerful and influential network to connect, share resources and address the challenges that students encounter at various levels of higher education.

AAPD will kick off the project with a survey of undergraduates and law students. As AAPD continues to develop this project, it will host focus groups and create a website devoted to providing resources to students who are pursuing or hoping to pursue post-secondary education. A Higher Education Disability Network will be established to enable students to connect and support one another.

“Thirty-five years after the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guaranteed access to a free, appropriate, public education in the least restrictive environment to every child with a disability, students with disabilities are graduating from high school in ever higher numbers. Yet students with disabilities are still enrolling in and completing college and graduate and professional programs at a significantly lower rate than their non-disabled peers. Many students with disabilities, even if they graduate, report challenges to us,” said AAPD’s Acting President and CEO, Helena Berger.

As the nation’s largest cross-disability membership organization, AAPD is committed to increasing the success of students in higher education. Through the Higher Education Project, AAPD will identify and address barriers students with disabilities face in all aspects of higher education. Additionally, AAPD will work with students and professionals to foster peer networks and create access to resources targeted at removing barriers and enhancing educational experiences for students with disabilities.

“We want to look more closely at what these challenges are – whether they are in the admissions process, in the classrooms, in the dorms, or in other aspects of the college experience,” Berger said.

AAPD thanks the Verizon Foundation and Time Warner Inc. for their financial support of this project.

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