A Letter from Kacie
Kacie, a student at Arapahoe Community College (ACC), wrote an article for IN!'s blog about how her first attempt at college, before inclusive higher education supports were available in Colorado, was unsuccessful. With the help of Elevate, the inclusive higher education office at ACC, Kacie will graduate in May.
"Throughout middle school and high school, I had the support of my teachers and a group of friends who had disabilities like me. But when I started college at Arapahoe Community College, everything changed. I no longer had an IEP to ensure that I got accommodations. Instead, I had to make my own requests for accommodations...On top of all this, I had no group of friends who had disabilities like me. That meant no one to have lunch with. No one to study with. No one to hang out with. But I refused to accept that I was having a hard time adjusting and simply pretended that everything was fine around my parents, my teachers, and my counselor through student access services. Eventually, they found out. It was in the fall of 2016 that I became part of the first Elevate group. I welcomed the opportunity, mainly because I now felt that I wasn’t alone at ACC."
