---
title: ‘Inclusion Matters’
date: 2021-09-08T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/inclusion-matters"
section: Articles
---
# ‘Inclusion Matters’

*September 8, 2021* — by [Chris Carroll](/author/chris-carroll)


> New Program Enrolls UMD Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

*Terps Exceed 08042021 SC 7392 1920x1080 — Zach McKay, one of two students enrolled in the first semester of TerpsEXCEED, gets familiar with UMD classrooms during a student orientation session last month. Below, Hari Kannan, the other member of the inaugural group, checks out McKeldin Mall.*

Hari Kannan was a middle schooler when he somberly told his mother the bad news: He has Down syndrome; therefore he would be unable to clean his room.

Kannan and his mother, Vidya Thirumalai, who told the story, still chuckle at the failed ploy. Now 19, he has no doubt about his ability to accomplish his goals. That confidence (and a healthy sense of humor) helped the young man from North Potomac, Md., become one of two students in a pilot program this semester giving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities a chance for a University of Maryland education.


*Student stands on McKeldin Mall*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Disability and Accessibility](https://today.umd.edu/topic/disability-and-accessibility)


**Units:** [College of Education](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-education)