As a mother of an incredible young woman with a learning disability, each day is its own story of victories and challenges. Each day offers insight into where and how my daughter can access community, in all its forms.

Disability is part of the human condition. It is as variable and unique as each one of us and helps to create our shared human experience. In Maine, 13% of students aged between six and 21 are identified as a student with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – versus 9.5% nationwide, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. While several surveys show that higher education is a predictor of not only career development, but overall quality of life, few college programs for students with developmental or intellectual disabilities exist in Maine.

When Joanne, my kind, curious, thoughtful and creative daughter, whose dream has always been to attend college, graduated from high school, it seemed that she would be forever shut out from that treasured experience of higher learning. Until an email invited us to join an exploratory day at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine’s Integrated Studies Program, a pilot program at that time.

Integrated Studies is Maine’s first fully inclusive college-based post secondary program for students with an intellectual disability who have finished their K-12 education. Joanne and I were one of only 65 families who visited the campus for the program’s inaugural orientation. It was Joanne’s first time on a college campus, and at her dream school, no less.

Based on Think College Standards, Saint Joseph’s Integrated Studies Program is modeled after a similar program at Gwynedd Mercy University in Pennsylvania. Its long-term goals include increasing students’ independence both academically and personally; expanding their employment experience through meaningful community employment opportunities; and exploring the potential of deepening their own self-awareness. At the end of that day, Joanne was beaming. We’d found community.

Maine has made strides in making college more accessible, with its free community college program and recent attempt at the legislative level to establish a grant program that would provide funding to start other programs dedicated to students with disabilities. But that attempt was halted and the financial supports, as well as federal scholarships, are not available to existing non-credit programs for those with intellectual disabilities, such as Saint Joseph’s.

These programs change lives. Joanne is independent; people her own age speak to her as a peer. She pays for her own food, walks to classes by herself, goes to the gym, hands out flowers to her fellow students on campus. She’s joining a science club, and will be studying biology, anatomy and physiology in the fall with the goal of becoming a marine biologist. Moreover, she’s encouraged to actively engage with the world beyond the classroom, and is seeking an internship opportunity in marine biology.

There are no words to capture what Joanne has already gained from this experience.

I have come to know a different, dynamic side of my daughter through the homework she proudly asks me to review. Our relationship has grown in so many ways. Even more than that, I now feel sure that my daughter will be OK; that she will be able to take care of herself when I am gone.

Joanne is multidimensional. She is brave. She gets nervous. She is witty. She is generous. She is unique. Inclusive education is important not only for students, but for the neighborhoods and communities they live in. Again, disability is inherently diverse – it is a category that includes people from every gender, race, culture, sexual orientation, geographic region, age group and socioeconomic level. It’s also a group to which all of us can belong at any time.

Now is the time for us to establish greater pathways and open doors to funding so that opportunities like Saint Joseph’s Integrated Studies Program can be accessible to all. In the words of my intrepid, incredible daughter: Hard work pays off.