Thirty-one English teachers from Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine came to the Montana State University (MSU) campus to participate in workshops in American Studies and take part in cultural excursions in the summer of 2004. Through my involvement, the existence of students with disabilities has been brought to the forefront of their minds within the broader context of American Studies.

Early in the program, I shared information with the participants about cerebral palsy in general and my own experiences with it, and then opened the session up to questions. For the participants, and my co-workers, the awareness brought about by these discussions was one of the most positive aspects of my participation. Because of my travel experience in Russia with Cross Cultural Solutions, I could better understand the circumstances of people with disabilities in developing countries, and we were able to share the differences. The other program assistant, who knew American Sign Language (ASL) and shared experiences of having a Deaf best friend in elementary school, led the second half of the discussion. Because of one Deaf student, her whole class was able to learn ASL, and she taught the hand alphabet to our participants.
 
I feel my full participation will translate to the teachers’ work in their home countries in a positive, long-term way. My daily example of living and functioning with a disability on the program opened their minds on an individual level and also provided a model to work toward on a larger scale. They have seen and understand that these students can, and should, participate fully not only in education, but also in their societies and beyond. 

For the Office of International Programs staff that hosted the program, I led a separate meeting on disability issues in international travel that will positively influence the office’s readiness to accommodate exchange students with disabilities. The meeting also broadened their understanding of some of the disability issues confronted when traveling internationally.

For myself, aside from having the amazing opportunity to visit two of the country’s most beautiful national parks with the participants, the most positive aspects were the cultural understanding and sharing with the participants. I loved meeting new people from an area of the world in which I am very interested. This was a completely unique opportunity for me, as I have been to Russia, but not to Armenia, Georgia or Ukraine. For the majority of the internship, I was in charge of tallying and summarizing the participants’ evaluations from each of the four daily lectures and workshops. How wonderful to watch them confront and discuss their cultural differences with each other, as well as their countries’ cultural differences with the United States. I have come away with a greater understanding of the complexity of the struggles and issues concerning the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union.

A fellow program assistant and I also lived in the dorms with the participants and functioned as resident assistants. In spite of its breathtaking geographic location and being blessedly small, the campus itself was built on a rather noticeable hill.  Further, each of the buildings I had to travel back and forth to daily (dorm, office, dining hall for dinner) were all on opposite edges of campus. And every one of them required stairs to get to the final destination. My internship supervisor did not make a secret of the general inaccessibility of the campus, and naturally they could not install elevators in every building and railings on every stair, and they could not move the buildings closer together or flatten out the hill. That is the way of things, and I managed fine. I just got a lot of exercise, and there were a few evenings I was too tired to make the trek to dinner, which didn’t hurt me any either.  Happily, because I was able to handle all of the physical aspects with a manageable amount of exertion, I had an incredible and rewarding experience, and feel I added a new and valuable element to the program.