A degree of their own.

A PROGRAM AT BELLEVUE COMmunity College outside Seattle, Wash., is part of the larger conversation about what happens to disabled students once they leave high school. The Venture Program, which is for-credit, is now the first degree program in the nation for developmentally delayed students, a subset of the disabled population. Venture accepts only intellectually delayed students and offers academic and life-skills classes leading to an associate's degree.

A broad conversation about postsecondary opportunities is brewing. "We are as a society on the edge of considering how people with disabilities after the high school age are more fully able to participate," says Troy Justesen, acting director of the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education.

Venture proponents, including Director Cynthia Johnson, say they are battling for a civil right: for disabled individuals to have access to a meaningful college education. "We are here to help them lead full, productive lives," Johnson says.

People in 32 states have expressed interest to Johnson in replicating the self-supported program. Amanda Bates, 25, is one student to already benefit from Venture. "I had started courses at other colleges, [but] I understand better here."--C.M.F.