The following is the written transcript for the teleconference on November 3, 2006 sponsored by the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange.

Presenters:

Megan Smith, Youth with a disability
Megan volunteered internationally in Costa Rica for two and a half months with Cross Cultural Solutions as a high school senior. She is now a freshman at Soka University, an international university, in southern California. Megan's Blog

Jane Falls, Coordinator of the National Post-School Outcomes Center at the University of Oregon
Since 1984, Jane has provided regional and national leadership and technical assistance in secondary education and transition from school to adult life and post-school outcomes. She will discuss how international exchange programs can and should be an integral part of the successful transition process for youth with disabilities.

Melissa Mitchell, Outreach & Training Coordinator for the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange 
Melissa, who uses a wheelchair and has a service dog, can relate her trainings to her own experiences studying and teaching abroad on international exchange programs in France. She will talk about how the NCDE can assist youth with disabilities to find the right program to meet their individual goals.

Sandy Greve, Parent
Sandy's daughter with cerebral palsy has participated in two international experiences. Sandy will share her experience supporting her daughter during both of her experiences.

Scott Hunt, Youth For Understanding Program Staff
Scott will share YFU's exoperiences as a youth exchange program that activiley includes and recruits young people with disabilities. Read about YFU

Melissa Mitchell:    I would like to welcome everybody to the teleconference call. This conference call is specifically for parents of children with disabilities and other adults who have positions where they will influence the path of youth with disabilities.  And some of those professionals include physical therapists, teachers, speech therapists, disability service coordinators, and other people in similar positions.  We’ve chosen to do this teleconference to help people in these fields understand the importance of the international experiences as youth grow and attain greater levels of independence from their family units and home communities.

We will hear from parents of children with disabilities; we will hear from a youth with a disability who volunteered abroad; we will hear from Jane Falls, Coordinator of National Post-School Outcome Center who works closely with educators, parents and youth in the transition process; and we will hear from members of the International Exchange community. Let me start by introducing the National Clearinghouse on Disability Exchange and our purpose and goals.

I am the Outreach and Training Coordinator for the National Clearinghouse on Disability Exchange which is a project of Mobility International USA sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. We have been in existence since 1995 working to increase the number of people with disabilities of all ages and backgrounds participating in international opportunities, such as study abroad, international internships, work abroad, and international volunteer projects.

To attain this goal of more people with disabilities participating in international educational exchange programs, we also provide technical assistance to International Exchange organizations on how to better include and be prepared for having participants with disabilities on their programs.
So during today’s call we will discuss how to suggest that a student might participate in international programs, and different things that people involved with youth can do to help them be prepared to have such an experience.

We have Ms. Sandra Greve who is the mother of a youth with Cerebral Palsy who’s been abroad twice; and I believe we shall start with Ms. Greve. If you would like to tell the audience a little bit about yourself and then share a bit about your daughter’s experience that would be wonderful.

(Sandra Greve):      I’m the mother of three and my daughter has Cerebral Palsy and has traveled abroad. I formerly worked for 12 years for Parent Training and Information Center; and currently, I work for the Department of Personnel in Olympia, Washington.

Melissa Mitchell:     Can you share a bit about your daughter’s experience – where she went, how long she went, what were some of your thoughts…

(Sandra Greve):      The first time she went abroad was in college to Pau, France. She went as a part of her French class. A group of them went for a month where they all stayed with host families. But she was the only one with a disability who went. There were a few challenges involved with finding a host family [with a wheelchair accessible house] that were later resolved, and she went! And then the challenges when she got there. Her wheelchair was damaged on the flight, but she got it repaired once she arrived with the help of her wonderful host family. The second time she went, she went on her own for almost a year to teach English in France.

Melissa Mitchell:     Can you share with the audience what, if any, were your concerns about your daughter with disabilities going abroad?

(Sandra Greve):      When she went with the group I didn’t really have as many because I knew she’d have people there who knew her, who had been to school with her and they would be familiar with her and could help her in a lot of ways. When she went by herself I had a number of concerns just from flying there by herself to being able to ask for help, and people being willing to help her, fear of people taking advantage of her.

She had to take everything she owned with her and had to be able to carry it because she didn’t have an aid and she doesn’t travel with an aid. All the nice things that she has when she is here in the U.S., with her family and with the people that know her, all the supports – they would not be there in France.
So we just had to rely on that everybody would be helpful and she would be safe and be okay. Once she was on the plane there wasn’t much I could do except worry and wait to hear from her; but we kept in contact. She had a wonderful experience – we had a wonderful experience living through her.

Melissa Mitchell:     When you say you had some worries, can you describe what a few of those worries were and how they were addressed?

(Sandra Greve):      We had some quite frank conversations because I worried about her safety and whether there would be men who would take advantage of her. Or, if she were accosted, would people jump in and help if she was asking for help. Or, would people say – you know, “She’s like this all the time and – you know – she has these outbursts. There’s really no harm” or would they actually intercede and try to help her and believe the person in the wheelchair was not – was capable of making their own decisions.

That was my biggest fear and then – you know – just being able to get around because she’s not a functional walker. She uses a wheelchair, and France doesn’t exactly have an American Disabilities Act.

But we talked at length about all of this. As a parent, it wasn’t the time to be shy or not a time to be afraid to ask questions. You know – how are you going to handle it if somebody’s going to do this? What would you do if you’re in a risky situation, how are you going to get help? All of those things had to be talked about to resolve my fear. She probably just humored me to resolve my fears; but I needed to know that we at least had those conversations. The other fear I had was about her medical needs – what if she had some medical needs come up? People assumed she couldn’t make her down decisions based on her knowledge of her physical disability or health issue. I don’t have guardianship over her. She’s totally independent.

So on her own, she researched and found MedicAlert and purchased an ID bracelet that listed her disability and that she’s capable of making her own decisions. She purchased the plan where if something were to happen to her, MedicAlert would fly a parent or a person of her choice over to France to help her if needed – if she’s in the hospital.

Melissa Mitchell:     How do you think having these international experiences has helped your daughter in reaching her goals?

(Sandra Greve):      Oh, it’s helped immensely! She was a French major and a Communication major so it really broadened her perspective. She wanted to work for a newspaper, to become a person who is a global citizen, and then to be involved with other nations and outreaching in whichever way she could.

There’s a lot to be said for any travel whether it’s abroad or even across the country. It opens your eyes up to meet people and have new experiences. Not to say that you can’t have that in the town in which you live, but it certainly is different once you cross those borders.

Melissa Mitchell:     And what skills did you think she gained or solidified through these experiences that she may not have gotten through a different type of experience?

(Sandra Greve):      Definitely has wonderful packing skills now! Self advocacy. We started with her at a very young age to be her own self advocate mainly because she would say to her therapist and myself, “I don’t care what you put on that paper. I’m not going to do it”.

So we had to find a way for her to be very involved from a young age in her own therapies and her own choices even as far as being involved in discussions on – when surgeries were needed; and how did she feel about that; and if she wasn’t too happy about it, explaining the medical necessity and the outcomes.

But definitely she’s gained an immense amount of independence and self-advocacy. I don’t worry when she travels any longer. I always have just a little piece in my heart that says, “Okay God, please keep her safe”; but that’s always there. But I know she’s safe; I know she’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing; and she’s very happy.

Melissa Mitchell:     Jane, would you like to follow Ms. Greve and share some of your experience with international education as it relates to students in transition?

(Jane Falls): Yes, it’s a pleasure to be on. I’m the Coordinator at the National Post-School Outcome Center; and just very briefly, you may be interested in knowing that every State Department of Education – the Special Education Programs are now required to find out what’s happening with youth within the year after they leave school.
So the US Department of Education is now requiring that state’s collect information related to whether or not students with disabilities leave high school and find themselves in either post-school outcome – post-secondary educational opportunities and/or employment. So there’s an increased accountability for what happens with youth as they’re transitioning from school into early adult life; and that’s been very exciting.

I want to just feature some of the pieces that Ms. Greve identified as important in her daughter’s experience.

What we know from research is that young people who have opportunities to be self-advocates, to understand their own abilities, their disabilities do much better as they transition. Those who learn how to speak up for themselves do much better as they transition. Those who have opportunities to expand their horizons and get beyond the classroom where sometimes they have more challenges do much better; and so I want to just feature that those are important things to discover for any child – any young person as they’re moving through the educational experience; and helping them think about what they want to do when they get out of high school.
Clearly from Ms. (Greve)’s description – her daughter has known for a while or has been going through the process of self-discovery about what she’s good at and what she wants to do. That self-discovery is so critical in the high school years – identifying and starting to think about what you want to do after you get out of high school; and then designing the high school experience to give you the opportunities to gain the skills that you need.

International experience traveling abroad – again, whether it’s across the country, across the city, or across the world is a really critical part of helping young people discover who they are, where their skills are, what their talents are; and probably most importantly, how to find themselves in those places and become their own self advocates.

Melissa Mitchell:   What kind of skills specifically does the National Center for Post-Secondary Outcome identify as necessary for students to be successful – that parents could help their children learn or that the children could get real-world experience using - by traveling and having international experiences?

(Jane Falls):   The outcomes are much worse for kids who drop out; so the process of dropping out starts happening very early in a young person’s life and it has to do with disassociating, not doing well in school – particularly related to social interaction.

And so the connections to International Exchange – again – are about a person feeling really good about themselves; gaining the confidence to be on their own either with a group or on their own entirely as Ms. (Greve) described – her daughter had two different experiences.

So it’s that – it’s getting kids excited about what they’re learning; seeing a connection to the greater world; and International Exchange obviously does that beautifully.

Melissa Mitchell:     I should note – for those on the call that – International Exchange and the variety of experiences is as wide and vast as the people who choose to participate on them.

People will find programs as short as one week to as long, in some cases, as three years – although it should be noted programs for high school students wouldn’t go three years long; so that – you know – a student could go for a week, and sort of try it out, and get their feet wet, and come back home, and reflect on what they learned and what they experienced in as short as a week; or they could go for two, or a month, or six months, or a year on average for the high school age.

You don’t even have to wait for your child to be in high school. If you have a child who’s wanting to get out in the world now, and experience the world, and go some place new there are even programs for children as young as 10 and 11 years old, then enroll them in International Summer Camps.

So it’s very important if you have a child with a disability who’s already expressing interest in the world, and getting out in the world to encourage that and do what you can to help them make those connections.

Some of the skills that we have found in our work with people with disabilities that youth could use greater help on from time to time or greater time spent actually learning some of the skills would be – for students who need personal care assistance, how to work with a personal care assistant and explain their needs especially if they’re not taking a familiar personal care assistant with them on their exchange; if they’re dealing with someone new, or perhaps we’ve had students on some longer exchanges hire somebody in the country where they’re going.

Because their home environment is surrounded by people who know them and know their needs, they don’t often get a chance to practice that skill.
Another skill youth with disabilities can learn from international experiences abroad is how to politely ask for and refuse help. We’ve heard a lot of stories from people who’ve gone abroad who have said, “Oh, yes; the people are very helpful except sometimes I can’t get them to stop helping”. So that’s another skill that parents can assist their adventure-seeking children with.

Some skills that students gain from their experience includes time management. For instance, if they’ve got to catch a train or a plane, if you’re not there on time you don’t get on that train or plane. So time becomes very important.

Money management – because sometimes you are traveling with traveler’s checks or a set amount of money; and once that money is gone, it’s gone. So keeping track of where it’s going and how much you have becomes very important. And also learning to handle money exchanges and different currency is very important; so if you have a child that’s not very experienced with money and is at an age where that would be appropriate, parents can be very helpful with gaining experience with handling, and managing money, and learning to do those sorts of things.

Melissa Mitchell:     I would like to thank everyone who has been listening to the call and encourage you to ask any question that you may have.

And for those of you who are near a computer while you’re on the call, you can go to the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange website at www.miusa.org/ncde and there you will find a wealth of resources and I would encourage you to bookmark that website and surf it liberally. We are constantly adding new resources.

(Sandra Greve):      The one thing that just occurred to me in the list of the things that you’re talking about and one that I forgot to mention was as much as my daughter wants to be a world traveler and couldn’t wait to get on the plane to get over there, they’re still dealing with loneliness once there; and even the realization how much they depend upon their family and their support systems that suddenly aren’t there.

So preparing for that, that’s where you mentioned short-terms where they can go for – I think you said – a few days a week maybe. Those would be really good. I mean, typical developing children get opportunities to go to summer camp; but a lot of people with children with disabilities don’t get those unless they’re exclusively for children with disabilities and then all their needs are met.

So this may be the first time in their life they’re away from all of their support systems; and even though they want the independence, it can be darn scary not to have them anymore.

Melissa Mitchell:     Megan, would you like to share with the audience a little bit about yourself and what your experience was as a student with a disability who volunteered abroad?

(Megan Smith):       Yes; my name is (Megan Smith) and I just turned 18. I’m at a university right now and I’ve traveled to Europe and South America. My first experience was to France and England on a People to People International program.

This program takes a group of high school students through Europe and we do like ambassadorial-type work where we meet dignitaries and so on; but we also travel and tour the countries.

And then this last February, I went to Costa Rica and Peru on a volunteer program with Cross-Cultural Solutions. This time I went by myself and I went to Costa Rica and Peru. I was working in a Nursing Home and a Special Education School in Costa Rica. I was living in a house with other volunteers who came from all around the world. And then in Peru I was working in a shanty town and a Special Education School again. There actually I was actually teaching as a volunteer to a class of five to seven-year olds who have mental disabilities.

Melissa Mitchell:     How did you decide that you wanted to go in an International Volunteer Program?

(Megan Smith):       After traveling around Europe as a tourist I found that I never really quite connected with the culture or the people; and wanting to do that in South America I decided volunteering was the best avenue of really going in depth into the culture and just learning the language, the traditions, the culture, and so on.

Melissa Mitchell:     What do you think was the best part of your Costa Rica-Peru experience?

(Megan Smith):       I hiked to Machu Picchu and everyone had told me that I was unable to hike the mountain because it’s 12,000 feet high and it’s a really quite a small trail, so…

Melissa Mitchell:     What would the trail being small have to do with you not being able to go up there?

(Megan Smith):       Because it’s in no way accessible. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m in a wheelchair! I have Cerebral Palsy. I went there alone but I hired a guide and porter and he had to piggyback me. I went piggy back up to Machu Picchu in Peru!

Melissa Mitchell:     Wow; and what was that like?

(Megan Smith):       It was the most incredible experience of my life because he had to like – I think he hiked about seven miles with me which was incredible in itself. It was so magical up there. It was just really magical and I was so fortunate to get that experience.

Melissa Mitchell:     How do you think your international experiences have helped you define what you want to do in life?

(Megan Smith):       Well consequently I’m at a university now as a freshman college student; and actually before my traveling I never thought I would be able to live on my own especially in college because of the workload, or stress. But after traveling on my own and living on my own in South America and conditions far from what I have in America, I am able to live completely independently here.

And just my whole outlook on my Major – I’m doing Latin American International Studies for a Major; and just my whole outlook on what I can do has completely transformed because I am no longer limited to where the ramps are or where I see the handicap accessible signs.

Melissa Mitchell:     What advice would you have for other youth with disabilities or their parents you might be thinking about doing an experience similar to the one you did? What do you wish you would’ve known before you went that you know now?

(Sandra Greve):         I know it sounds strange but preparation for these trips is almost inconsequential. I mean there is no preparation for these trips.The times where I’ve had the most amazing experiences were where I dived in head first without limiting myself to physical limitations. For example, if there is an accessible hotel room, or if there are not fully accessible places to stay; I think once you realize how much you can adapt that then you have so much freedom to do whatever you like.

Melissa Mitchell:     Are you going to be doing anymore international travel in the future?

(Megan Smith):       Yes, actually I have a very good friend in Costa Rica now and I’m going back there this summer.

Melissa Mitchell:     Excellent; what were some of the accommodations the International Program made for you or that you took with you that you thought were useful?

(Megan Smith):       Originally I used a very heavy power wheelchair – electric chair; and I actually bought a chair that was about 100 lbs. that was lighter. It was still electric; you fold it up which was so much more convenient because especially in Peru and Costa Rica there is no disabled transportation. I would have men lift it up and get it into the trunk or whatever; and so that chair was very, very useful. Also the International Program accommodated me with ramps into the housing and grab bars in the bath tub.

Melissa Mitchell:     Excellent; thank you very much (Megan). Hello, (Scott)?

(Scott Hunt):      Yes; hello. I’m calling from Youth For Understanding and we’re an International Youth Exchange Organization. Well first of all we are a High School level exchange organization so we send students in the secondary education level overseas – Americans to go study in a “high school” overseas and we also bring in students from about 50 countries around the world to the United States to live with host families and attend school for a semester or a year. So that’s our basic operation. We do have experience in working with students with some physical challenges and we still have the capacity to always work with students with disabilities, and we are very willing to do so.

Melissa Mitchell:     Why does YFU feel that the high school age is so important for young people to have these types of experiences?

(Scot Hunt):      Well I think that question can be answered in the history of our organization. We were started in the early 1950s on the initiative of some thoughtful people in the US Government that thought it would be a good idea to bring some teenagers from war-torn Germany to the United States so they can experience the American stability, democracy – basically the American way of life; take them out of their destroyed economy, their ruined cities post World War II Germany; but students that were young enough to experience – or I should say – kids young enough to experience what World War II brought on them; but not too old where they might have been tainted with Hitler Youth Organizations – that kind of stuff.

Basically to breathe a fresh air of breath into their society – their young society. So that’s how we got started and it was decided to bring students at that secondary age level to the United States because that is where they could integrate most successfully into the American family fabric. So that’s really where we got our start.

Melissa Mitchell:     I would encourage anyone on the line who has any question including specific instances you’re dealing with to please put it forth and we can do our best to brainstorm together as a presenter group to help you with those.

Some of the questions we get often are how to work with an Exchange Program to provide reasonable accommodations that students are used to getting in the classroom here in the states such as note takers, extra time on test, readers, etc.

We get questions a lot about traveling with mobility impairments; and wheelchairs, and walkers, and those sorts of things. We get questions regarding sign language interpreters and the provision of those services on overseas programs; and we also get questions regarding people who need personal care assistance – assistance with activities of daily life and how those needs would be met on an International Program.

We have many excellent resources including a new online journal called A World Awaits You with a specific issue focusing on the needs and questions of parent and other youth influencers; and experiences of the students with different types of disabilities such as autism, dyslexia, cerebral palsy, blindness and other visual impairments, and ADD/ADHD.

Our resources cover the needs of many different types of disabilities – not only those with mobility impairments. I would also like to a quick moment to thank all of my presenters who were able to join in the call. Thank you very much for sharing your experiences and your information.

(Valerie Nelson):    Hi, this is (Valerie Nelson). I work at Michigan State University in the Disability Office; and I might say (Scott) that as a young person I was Youth For Understanding exchange student. And in fact my family had one of those young German exchange students visit us and live with us for a year. I think that was what sparked my original interest.

Melissa Mitchell:     Excellent.

(Valerie Nelson):    But what I wanted to share with the group today, I don’t so much have a question as I wanted to let people know that at Michigan State we are really big into study abroad, and international experiences, internships, and so on.

We are beginning a new program that will launch this summer 2007. We’re going to be focusing the Study Abroad Program on Disability in a Diverse Society; and it will take place in Dublin, Ireland. We are looking for students both with and without disabilities because we feel that students – one needs to learn about disability issues and understand that because it intersects in our lives in so many different ways in every field. So we will be taking 15 students; we’re hoping to get many of them students with disabilities; and we also are offering some scholarships for students with disabilities. So just wanted to let you know about that. It will be on our website soon. It’s still kind of being developed in the last phases of it; and it will be marketed very soon.

Melissa Mitchell:     Excellent; what sparked MSU to offer a program with the focus on disabilities?

(Valerie Nelson):    Well one of the members of the Study Abroad Office and myself have been interested in this field for quite a while. We’ve been doing many things for the last eight to 10 years to encourage our students with disabilities to participate because we saw that there was very low participation and for many reasons.
So a couple years ago we wrote a grant to the IFSA – International Foundation for Study Abroad. We received some money for scholarships for this program that we decided that if the focus was on disability that it might entice some students to join in.

And we happened to have this course – Disability in a Diverse Society is offered already on campus; so it was a natural for us to collaborate with the College of Education where that course is offered.

Melissa Mitchell:     That’s great. What does MSU see that their students who go abroad gain from going abroad?

(Valerie Nelson):    Oh my goodness, it’s a life-transforming experience according to the students when they come back; and I think that’s probably true for students across the board -- increased level of self confidence, that they can do things that they didn’t think they might be able to do previously. It just opens their minds to see the world so much differently than they had seen it before.

So – and I think they also gain an appreciation for who they are; to understand other cultures as well as their own in comparison to other cultures.

Melissa Mitchell:     Thank you very much, (Valerie). That’s – we’ll keep watching for updates on that MSU Program.

(Valerie Nelson):    Okay, thank you; and I’ve been enjoying this teleconference.

Melissa Mitchell:     All right; we have about five minutes left on the teleconference. I would like to open it up for comment or question at this time; and this can be from either participants or presenters.

(Jane Falls):   Hi; just wanted to put in a plug for the whole issue of both kids with and without disabilities learning tremendously by these kinds of exchanges.
 We have – in my family – had the delightful opportunity to host exchange students both young – young students just out of high school as well as adults in our home; and my daughter who does not have a disability has learned hugely and opened her eyes about possibilities by having young women, young men in our home who come from other countries.

Melissa Mitchell:     Wow, she sounds like she has a very interesting life. So you’re family does -- what we would call the host family – you serve as a host family?

(Jane Falls):     Yes, and it’s just a great way to open children’s eyes to the whole range of joy that’s out there; and she’s just had a great time connecting with women from Uzbekistan, and Japan, and a couple of – from Guatemala; and so she just – you know, it’s an important for kids without disabilities as well to have a chance to have that kind of really intimate, personal, exciting opportunity; and our world is going to be run by our young kids in not too many years; so it’s important to open those opportunities for both kids – with and without disability.

Melissa Mitchell:     Thank you very much for sharing that (Jane). Jane does bring up a good point. One of the ways we encourage families to give their children international experiences before they may be ready to go out on their own is to look up exchange organizations that may be looking for host families in your community, and sign your family up to host a person from another country. That is a way of bringing the world sort of to your children before they’re ready to go out in it on their own; and it is an excellent way for them to start to conceptualize the world beyond their backyard.

Melissa Mitchell:     Thank you very much. We have about a minute and a half left on the call and I would again like to thank all of my presenters – (Scott), (Megan), Ms. (Falls), and Ms. (Greve). I very much appreciate your time and I hope you have found this teleconference as interesting and useful as I have.
Again, for anyone interested in transcripts of the call or other information on this topic, you can visit our website at www.MIUSA.org/ncde or you can do a Web search for the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange.

Once again, we are a project of Mobility International that is sponsored by the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs of the United States Department of State; and we would like to thank both of those entities very much for their support.

And on that note I will bring this call to a close and thank everyone for their participation.