Read more about our program
Check out our recent publications and features in the news!
The Lifelong Learning with Friends Program: One Family’s Experience
Cristen Reat, Program Director at BridgingApps, shares how her son Vincent is thriving in a class that explores music history through the decades.
Offered by UT Austin’s Lifelong Learning with Friends program, the course blends music, history, and interaction. It keeps Vincent engaged and excited each week.
Kaelin Nguyen Rubenzer awarded by Texas Business Hall of Fame
Our Executive Director was recently awarded the Shaun D. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Innovation and Empathy. This award recognizes an entrepreneur who has built a company focused on solutions for those with physical and/or developmental disabilities.
TexasYouth2Adult:
Lifelong Learning with Friends
You don’t have an Individualized Education Program after high school, but you have the right to keep learning. And intellectual disability (IDD) needn’t keep you out of college. There are even programs designed for IDD learners. Maybe, though, you aren’t interested in studying for another degree. No problem. In school or out, everyone should be able to enjoy learning for learning’s sake. And there are classes for that, too: they’re called “continuing education” classes.
​
CE courses designed for IDD learners aren’t always easy to find. However, one of the best is based at University of Texas (UT) Austin.
Hidden Gems: Meet Kaelin Nguyen Rubenzer of Lifelong Learning with Friends
Kaelin's earliest experience with disability was within her own family—both her dad and older brother, Zack, are on the autism spectrum. Growing up in a neurodiverse household gave her a unique perspective on both the strengths and challenges of disability. Kaelin saw firsthand their extraordinary, intense interests, but also witnessed the difficulties they faced in finding social belonging and opportunities to pursue their passions.
Lifelong Learning with Friends hosts UT classes for adults with intellectual disabilities
Coconut milk, brown sugar, lime juice, chicken broth and onions wait on the tables in a room in the Neural and Molecular Science Building. About a dozen students sit crisscross on the floor as Kaelin Rubenzer stands in front of the projection screen and points to the recipe for the day, Thai red curry.
UT program turns learning into lifelong endeavor inside, outside classroom
UT’s Lifelong Learning with Friends program provides access to post-secondary education courses for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, allowing them to continue their education at their own pace. A research paper published last month found the program increases social and educational outcomes for adults with disabilities.
Learning science alongside peers with intellectual and developmental disabilities
A peer-reviewed study found that “Lifelong Learning with Friends” provides diversity training to college students by having them learn science alongside adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Volunteers showed increased interest in IDD-focused research, social interaction, and advocacy.
Reverse-Inclusion Continuing Education Program at College Aimed at Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Program Implementation
Many post-secondary education programs foster self-sufficiency, intellectual growth, and employment skills for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). However, these programs do not usually introduce adults with IDD to the broad range of academic subjects that their neurotypical peers take in college. Thus, we developed a reverse-inclusion, continuing-education program at University of Texas at Austin aimed at adults with IDD. Students with and without IDD take courses together on campus in science, liberal arts, and self-sufficiency skills. We describe how we designed and implemented our program which serves 300 students annually. This can inform the development of similar programs in other locations.
