Like a lot of college students, Randy Tupas is working on his résumé and hoping to land an internship next spring.

Maybe, he says, the internship will turn into a job.

“That is what I’m wishing for.”

Tupas, who will turn 28 on Dec. 14, isn’t too worried, though.

As a student in a Houston Community College program for students with intellectual disabilities, he knows he will have help.

College was once out of reach for people with an intellectual disability, which is generally defined as having below-average scores on intelligence tests and limitations in other aspects of daily life. Employment was often limited to a sheltered workshop, bagging groceries or other low-status jobs.

But that wasn’t enough for a generation who grew up in public school classrooms, spurred by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other legislation.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7325698.html