This favorite of the European institutions hasn't stopped growing in terms of students and budget. So much so that last February, the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee advocated for doubling its budgetary allocation for the 2021 - 2027 period (from the current 14.7 billion to 29.5 billion).

Yet, it's still hard to find any Erasmus students with disabilities. In Spain, 1.3% of university students are disabled. It's a low percentage, but significantly higher than the Erasmus students in the same situation, just 0.14%.

That's why the ONCE Foundation begun implementing a new universities strategic line in 2013. The area managed by Isabel Martínez Lozano: "Employment is the one element that generates the highest degree of social inclusion and we had realized that most disabled children did not pursue higher education. We cannot simply accept for disabled persons to have low-skilled jobs".

Martínez explains that when they started analyzing the situation six years ago, they realized that "there are reports prepared by the Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (better known by its Spanish acronym, Sepie) stating that Erasmus students increase their possibilities of finding employment by 25%; some companies recruitment processes even promote profiles that include the experience of studying abroad, not only for their language skills, but also because it is a qualitative step forward in a young person's education".

Once they could appreciate this reality and the fact that "our children" didn't travel, they embarked in a study to find the causes. They found that there was a lack of accessibility and information and that there was an excess of overprotection from their families, but above all, that additional financial support was needed. "It's an important problem", Isabel Martinez explains. "The financial needs of most of them are higher, their expenses are higher". And this translated into a series of actions, such as providing more information, preparing brochures with the specific financial aid schemes or talking to the ministry to implement a supplement to the aid they already provide.

They also established €6000 scholarships compatible with any other financial aid.

"When we established these scholarships, 20 per year, the demand for grants was similar to the number of grants available. But it has kept on growing and during the last application period we had 40 requests and 20 scholarships", Isabel Martinez recalls, and then explains that the scholarships are awarded to "boys and girls with an outstanding curriculum, good language skills and with a very clear vision". Also that "engineering tends to be overrepresented" and music students are not a rare find.

Students for which, in any case, it's important to share their experiences, because " they help others get rid of their fears and take the step to get out", Martinez argues. With accounts such as Francisco José Molina's, a scholarship recipient who studied in Finland during the first term of 2017. That was the first trip of this Political and Administrative Sciences student with a psychosocial disability: Asperger's syndrome. "In the beginning, my mom was a bit apprehensive, she didn't feel I was prepared and she wanted to talk to the people at my university, Granada University, but they managed to convince her. She also went to the international relations office to talk to the manager, because she wanted to make sure that everything would be ready".

"I don't see that well, but I am quite courageous and quite independent, I like doing things myself, finding my own way. You'd never guess the degree of visual impairment I have", explains Inés Hlevnjak, a young girl from Croatia who came to Spain to work and train at ONCE, and who had already studied a Masters degree in Milan. She says her family was at ease "because they are used to me managing things on my own. Afterwards, my mom always tells me she was afraid, but never beforehand. She supports me and she looks quite composed, but then she tells me: 'I was so afraid!'. It's better that way, so that she doesn't restrict me" She explains that her disability has conditioned her career choices. "I must be aware of the fact that I cannot become a biologist even though I'd really like to. I wanted to become a conference interpreter because I really love languages and interpreting is like an oral translation, so I don't need to rely on my eyesight that much"

Josué Hernández, student of International Relations at the University of Nebrija, now in Coimbra, Portugal. That his disability has never stopped him becomes apparent when he reminds us that he studied at a US high school: "I was supposed to go there for a year and I ended up staying for three". But not all is bright colors. «I do agree that we need to have more information for disabled people", states Josué, «for instance, on transportation. I live close to the University and I walk there without a problem, but walking makes me more tired and this city is full of slopes".

He also agrees with the higher costs: "In my particular case, I need massages, physical therapy, I just came back from the gym.. It's true that the money they give you is pretty tight, not enough to cover the expenses.

Inés is from Croatia and she came to Spain for an internship as a translator and conference interpreter at the ONCE Foundation. Erasmus includes this possibility of traveling in order to work. "I don't see that well, but I am quite courageous and quite independent, I like doing things myself, finding my own way. Even if you're going to suffer a bit, that makes you grow and you become a better person, you get to know yourself better. That's what's most important. You'll always have hurdles to overcome, but you'll only be able to do it through experience.  In the end, it's all a matter of whether you really want it".

Josué has a physical disability of 65%.I would tell other people with disabilities not to over think it and to dare to do it; to stop thinking of whether they can or cannot, or what other people will say. It's good for many different things. It's okay if you have a bad day. Life is about falling down and getting up again".

Francisco has Asperger's syndrome. I really enjoyed it. I had to get out of my comfort zone and I realized that I had to do things that I had never thought about before, such as voicing my opinion, going shopping or taking care of administrative matters".