Reflections from the Fulbright Commission in India: Working with a Fulbrighter with a Disability

As far as the staff of the U.S. Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) can recall, Smita Worah was the first Indian scholar with a mobility impairment to pursue a Fulbright fellowship in the foundation’s over 50 year history. USEFI’s staff learned a great deal about disability issues while working with Smita through the entire Fulbright process: from her initial application and placement to her eventual return home.

India first enacted legislation on the rights of people with disabilities in 1995: The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act. As a result, special education became an emerging field. Recognizing this, USEFI added it to the pre-doctoral fellowship program competition. To attract potential applicants, USEFI corresponded with professionals and educators in disability networks in addition to conducting its usual publicity about Fulbright opportunities.

Smita submitted a proposal for a Fulbright project focusing on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems for people with speech and communication disorders. AAC is an area of clinical practice that aims to compensate for impairments and disabilities of individuals with severe expressive communication disorders. It not only incorporates symbols, strategies and techniques to enhance communication, but also gestures such as facial expression, body language, eye gaze and hand gestures. Smita wanted to enhance her knowledge and learn the latest trends and developments in the field of AAC in the United States in order to augment her work with the Kolkata-based Indian Institute for Cerebral Palsy (IICP).

While her project would provide Smita with an opportunity to learn more about special education in the United States, working with Smita also sensitized USEFI to the challenges faced by people with mobility disabilities, including stereotyping. Questions arose that had never before been considered and USEFI staff gained an appreciation for some of the challenges that Smita encounters on a daily basis. She consistently impressed the staff with her determination in meeting these challenges.

“I first met Smita when she came in to submit her application,” Dr. Sunrit Mullick, who heads USEFI’s Kolkata office, remembers. “In my capacity as Regional Officer of USEFI’s Eastern India office, I routinely interact with both American and Indian scholars. But Smita was the first scholar with a disability that I met.”

Smita, who has cerebral palsy, had already successfully completed her master’s program and was interested in pursuing pre-doctoral work through the Fulbright Program. Mullick recalls that he learned a lot from Smita before her program even began.

“When she emerged from the elevator and began walking laboriously toward our office, the staff was uncertain how to act. Should we offer our arms to her? Would she appreciate the gestures, or be offended? These, and other thoughts, sped through our minds as Smita walked in and sat down on the sofa.

“Then, as I began to interact with Smita, I thought about some of my own preconceptions of people with disabilities. Acknowledging these attitudes is half the battle in addressing them. For me, this ultimately helped me to overcome the preconceived ideas I had and to instead devise strategies to help Smita with the logistical challenges she would face in planning her program,” Dr. Mullick observed.

As part of the selection process, Smita appeared before the National Selection Committee for the Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Study Grants. The committee, composed of academics in diverse fields, met in a conference room on the fourth floor of the building housing USEFI in New Delhi (the headquarters of the Fulbright Commission in India). That day, USEFI staff heaved a sigh of relief that the elevator had operated, that Delhi’s fairly regular electricity outages had not stopped the flow of power to that elevator, and that no other practical problems had interfered with the interview.

The key factors in selection of Fulbright fellows include the likelihood that their project will contribute to knowledge relevant in India, the candidate’s ability to serve as a cultural ambassador for India in the United States, and the fellow’s ability to share the knowledge they gain with others upon her or his return home. Smita impressed the committee on every score, and they accepted her into the program. She went on to study at Pennsylvania State University.

Kamal Raina, then Program Manager at USEFI’s headquarters in New Delhi, worked closely with Smita during the term of her fellowship. He recalls, “Smita was very alert and confident of herself. Although she initially seemed somewhat demanding—and understandably so—she was always appreciative of whatever USEFI could do for her.” He observed that upon return home, “Smita continues to give back to the Fulbright program.” Since the end of her fellowship, she has written articles on her Fulbright experience for a newsletter published by the IICP, for USEFI’s quarterly newsletter called the Indian Fulbrighter, and for the A World Awaits You journal.

After her fellowship, I met Smita and her sister at the USEFI office in Kolkata while visiting that city. Later, I visited her workplace, IICP, where Smita gave me a personal tour of the two-story building. She walked me through classrooms of studying children, pointed out parents and staff sitting together on mats on the floor to work with infants to stimulate them, and proudly showed me the students’ artwork for which the institute had won an award. As she interacted with children, parents and staff, she shared her confidence and enthusiasm with those around her. Smita stood out as a role model for both the institute’s student body and the community at large. The usual academic and cultural benefits of international exchange have been magnified as Smita has extended the reach of her empowering experience to those around her.

The author, Jane E. Schukoske, Executive Director of U.S. Educational Foundation in India, thanks USEFI staff member Dr. Sunrit Mullick and former USEFI staff member Kamal Raina for their contributions to this article.