Every weekday during my summer internship, I would wake up at around 7 am –more or less– to take the long commute to Youth for Understanding USA (YFU USA) national office in Bethesda, Maryland.

I experienced most of the public transportation and train transfers this way. Some of my co-workers also took the bus to work, and we were able to get to know more about each other.  I was living in a dorm room in one of George Washington University housing in Foggy Bottom, close to downtown of Washington D.C. Even dorm living was an experience in itself. Due to my hearing impairment, the dorm room was equipped with a strobe light fire alarm and a doorbell.  Since I can’t hear whether someone occupied the bathroom or not (my neighbor and I shared the bathroom with adjacent doors), I created an “occupied” sign for my neighbor to put under my door. This way, I wouldn’t walk into my neighbor! It was a benefit for the neighbor as well because I put the occupied sign under the neighbor’s door too.

I worked for the YFU USA Admissions and Registration department, where I had my own cubicle and computer to do my work. My co-workers and the supervisor were only a few feet away.  The closed quarters made me feel a part of the team, in which for the most part, I was able to catch what was going on and to learn about the everyday functions.

Every Monday, we had a staff meeting, which I had a cued speech transilerator at the first time I attended. Due to the size of the meetings being no more than seven people, I developed other strategies where I would not have to rely on a transilerator. There may be times in which meetings would be established on the last minute and thus a transilerator may not be able to make it. I have strong lip-reading skills but can only pay attention to one person at a time, so I used a pillow in the design of a globe that the office had, and announced to the staff that the pillow-holder should be the only one speaking. When done speaking, the pillow-holder would pass the pillow to the next person who wants to speak or back to the supervisor. It was also important to remind them in every meeting about the pillow strategy and to kindly speak loudly and to face me. It worked out well for everyone because most often people would interrupt and talk over each other.

For a while, I didn’t have to use a telephone. YFU USA had a TTY telephone available in the office and gave it to me at the beginning of the internship. While I didn’t use it right away, it was extremely important to be sure that the TTY telephone worked, both in set-up and in making calls. Throughout my internship, my major project with YFU USA was advertising, in which I researched prospective publications and newspapers, online advertising and rental mail listings. It also had to be for a specific target population, in this case, high school students and teachers. Most of my work was done through web surfing on the Internet and sending out e-mails. Later, I received a budget in which I had to compile a list of advertising possibilities and to be sure it was within the budget. At that point, I had to use the TTY to call to find out specific information such as prices, size of ads, deadlines and marketing advice. Finally, after several one-to-one meetings with my supervisor, I placed orders, sent out artwork, and collected invoices.

While I devoted most of my time working on the advertising project, I looked for ways to bring disability awareness into the office. The pillow technique was one way the office was aware of my hearing impairment. However, I looked for ways YFU USA can be aware as an organization and to continue to be aware after the end of my internship. Since YFU USA provides overseas opportunities for high school students, I wanted to be sure that they are more than willing to include students with disabilities. During the summer months, YFU USA creates new informative materials to distribute to anyone who is interested in its programs. In the process, each co-worker reviews the materials, such as the viewbook, to see if any changes had to be made. When it was my turn to review, I suggested creating a statement in the viewbook pointing out inclusion of students with disabilities. I contacted Mobility International USA / National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange for any resources and statement examples other organizations used. Then I drafted a statement, and talked to human resources and other co-workers on how to make the statement better or legitimate. After discussion and changes, a statement on the efforts of disability inclusion is now in this year’s viewbook.

During the final week, I created a disability binder, in which I printed out fact sheets, resources and information on disabilities from the Mobility International USA /National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange website. I organized the information with a table of contents and alphabetical tabs. This way, a co-worker would directly get specific information. In the binder, I included an important tab, which demonstrates how a co-worker reacts and adapts upon working with a student who has disabilities. I presented this binder at a disability workshop on the last day of my internship. Mobility International USA /National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange sent me a package including pamphlets, information brochures and a video called “Building Bridges.”

I sent out an e-mail to all my co-workers inviting them to this workshop, where I showed the video, opened the floor with any questions and comments and shared my abroad experience. I explained that disabilities does not only mean physical ones, but also mental and health disabilities. I also shared some of my discoveries on the Mobility International USA / National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange website that would be very useful to the department, such as the Worldwide Disability Organization Database. I made it clear that if someone with disabilities applied to go abroad, most of these students are very aware of their challenges and they are willing to make the international exchange work. It would be very discouraging for those students if they were turned away without communication and effort. At the end, I left behind the binder and the video, and Mobility International USA / National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange will continue providing more information and publications to YFU USA in the future.