Join us on May 1, 2023 for #IPSEDay2023!
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What is #IPSEDay2023?
Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day, or #IPSEDay2023, is a day to raise awareness and spread the word about inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) options for students with intellectual disability.
What is inclusive postsecondary education?
Inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) is college that includes people with intellectual disability. It is also called inclusive higher education. IPSE means that students with and without intellectual disability go to college together. With IPSE, students with intellectual disability:
- who may not have graduated from high school with a regular diploma can go to college
- can go to college, regardless of test scores
- can continue to learn after high school, just like their peers and their siblings
- will be more likely to have competitive jobs after college
Why should you promote IPSE?
There are about 5,300 colleges and universities in the U.S. Just over 300 have options for students with intellectual disability (that’s about 6% of all colleges and universities).
While there are more options now than ever before, we have a lot more work to do. There are still so many people—students, parents, teachers, college staff—who just don’t know that college is an option for students with intellectual disability. Let’s change that!
Why do you think IPSE is important?
#IPSEDay2023 is May 1! For IPSE Day 2023, we invite students, families, friends, educators, allies, and supporters to share why you think IPSE is important. Let’s flood the internet with quotes, short stories, videos, and lots of photos!
How to spread the word about #IPSEDay2023
On IPSE Day, plan to promote awareness about college options for students with intellectual disability. Here are some sample activities you can do:
- Snap a photo or take a video and share it on social media with #IPSEDay2023.
- Personalize and share our sample social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media platforms. We have included hashtags to add to your posts and information about tagging other organizations and people on social media.
- Use the descriptions about #IPSEDay2023 on your website.
- Customize our newsletter sample text and insert information about your personal experience or thoughts. Share with teachers, employers, colleges and universities, and local and national representatives.
Be creative and come up with your own activity!
Share these messages on your social media accounts and with your networks!
Sample Social Media Posts
I support #IPSEDay2023 because [include your reason here]
#IPSEDay2023 is important to me because [what does it mean to you?]
Did you know that college is an option for students with #IntellectualDisability? There are over 310 IPSE programs serving more than 6,000 students with ID in the U.S. #IPSEDay2023
Students with #IntellectualDisability continue to learn after high school, just like their peers and their sibling. #IPSEDay2023
Students with #IntellectualDisability who attend #IPSE programs are more likely to have competitive jobs after college (RSA 911 data; Sannicandro et al., 2018). #IPSEDay2023
You can click these images to download them and include them with you post.
Sample Newsletter/Blog Post/Other Communication
Share this message with your networks to get the word out about #IPSEDay2023! You can personalize this sample text and include it in your newsletters, blogs, emails, and other communications.
Subject Line: Did you know that college is an option for students with Intellectual Disability?
Join us on May 1, 2023 to celebrate Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day (IPSE) Day!
IPSE Day is a day to raise awareness and spread the word about inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) options for students with intellectual disability. IPSE means that students with intellectual disability can go to college, regardless of their test scores and high school diplomas, just like their peers and siblings.
Students with and without intellectual disability can go to college together. All students learn more academically and socially when taught together in inclusive classrooms (Taylor et al., 2021). “Faculty observed that the inclusion of college students with ID benefited the students themselves, but also benefited other college students, the classroom environment, and the instructors” (p. 6-7).
Today, there are about 5,300 colleges and universities in the U.S., and just over 300 have options for students with intellectual disability. While there are more options now than ever before, we still have work to do. So many students, parents, teachers, and college staff don’t know that college is an option for students with intellectual disability.
IPSE gives students with intellectual disability the opportunity to dream bigger. On May 15, help us tell a new story about inclusive postsecondary education! Share your #IPSEDay2023 story on social media.
Visit Think College to learn more about what you can do to expand inclusive postsecondary education options for students with intellectual disability.