A World Away: Young Adults with Disabilities Explore Costa Rica

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“The program added ‘fuel to my fire’ to continue to work for the rights of persons, especially ‘disabled’ people. I will now go back to my college eager to tell everyone about this program and to continue an even stronger fight for disability rights and awareness,” shared Stephanie Birmingham, a young woman from Wisconsin who uses a power wheelchair and personal assistant.  Stephanie, along with fourteen other young adults with disabilities from across the U.S., traveled to Costa Rica this summer as delegates on the Mobility International USA Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Disability Rights Leadership Exchange Program.

For 14 days, this diverse group of emerging leaders immersed themselves in Costa Rican culture and traditions, practiced their Spanish and Costa Rican Sign (LESCO) language skills with local host families, peered over the rim of the Poas volcano, connected with disability rights leaders in Costa Rica, gained new leadership skills, and embarked on their first ever international community service project involving children with disabilities at a local orphanage.

The unique cross-disability diversity of the delegation provided delegates with an expanded view of what people with disabilities can accomplish. Hannah Park, a delegate from Rhode Island who has a non-apparent disability, shared, “The experience was unique in that everyone came with different strengths and ways in which they could help each other.” For Tara Wickey, the experience changed her personal perspective. She reflected, “I feel more of a personal shift; this trip for me was about seeing the challenges others with disabilities face, as compared with my own. I am humbled.”

This year, MIUSA partnered with Mr. David Zúñiga Arce (Latin America ILEAD alumnus ’08), Project Manager for El Portavoz, a newspaper that disseminates critical information to the disabled community in Costa Rica, Dr. Federico Montero, M.D., of the National Rehabilitation Center, and the Disability Student Services Office (DSO) at the University of Costa Rica to plan a program which included a blend of cultural enrichment activities, accessible excursions, and disability-related seminars. While in Costa Rica, the delegation met with disability rights leaders and participated in discussions regarding disability rights laws in the US and Costa Rica, rehabilitation and employment for people with disabilities in Costa Rica, access to education and employment, and media portrayal of people with disabilities. Sarah Marks, 2008 delegate from California who uses a wheelchair, commented that due to the program, “I now feel closer to the disabled community in general because I realized the similarities in the challenges that we all face, regardless of where you come from.”

Delegates immersed themselves in cultural traditions, celebrations, food, language, gender and familial roles, and attitudes about disability by living with local families in San Jose for a ten-day host family experience. Maegan Shanks, 2008 delegate from Louisiana who is Deaf, remarked, “the cross-cultural aspects of the program changed my world perspective by opening my eyes to how diverse the world truly is.”

MIUSA is grateful for the continued support of the DeWitt Wallace/Youth Travel Enrichment Fund, New York Community Trust (NYCT), established in Community Funds by the Co-Founder of the Reader’s Digest Association for supporting this unique opportunity for exchange between two cultures both seeking to achieve cross-disability and cross-cultural understanding.

To receive a notice about upcoming Disability Rights Leadership & Cross-Cultural Exchanges, sign up for our MIUSA Exchanges Mailing List!