The first time flying by myself was during my senior year at Clark University, when I embarked on a semester abroad at the University of Stirling. I remember talking to friends about feeling very nervous about the upcoming semester, and they said that it is normal to be nervous about something unknown. They advised me to embrace the uncertainty. This concept was new to me, but it helped to create a wonderful experience in Scotland.

When I got to Stirling, I moved into a dorm with most of the other exchange students.

Before you begin your search, consider:

• Type of experience. Are you interested in conducting academic research? Service-learning/volunteering? Sharing your expertise with a local community?
• Length of program. Would a short-term program (ranging from a few weeks to a few months) be ideal, or are you interested in a longer-term experience (6-24 months)?

From time to time we get inquiries from people with ADHD wishing to study in Japan, and they are overwhelmed with the confusing maze of rules and regulations vis-à-vis their medications. Japan’s rules for medications, such as those related to ADHD or pain management, are unique, and they required a unique tipsheet.

A Yakkan Shoumei is a certificate authorizing permission for you to bring medication into the country.

Some international education professionals share anecdotes about scrambling to find accessible housing and transportation options when a student unexpectedly showed up to the program site in a wheelchair; others recall students who took them by surprise by exhibiting signs of depression shortly after arriving in their host destination.

Cara*, a UTEP student with a mental health-related disability, could have given up on her dream of studying European art abroad on an expedition to Rome when the faculty leader expressed doubts about whether she could bring her service dog. Instead she sought advice from the university’s Center for Accommodations and Support Services (CASS).

When she did, CASS staff sprang into action.

That’s the idea behind many higher education institutions’ forward-thinking approach to ensuring that no disabled student is denied the opportunity to study abroad due to the costs of facilitating access.

Far too often, college and university students with disabilities recall being discouraged from going abroad by faculty leaders or other university staff.  

The University of Texas at Austin (UT), for one, is determined to never let this happen, recognizing that greater visibility to the inclusion of people with disabilities in study abroad is one of the most important steps to shifting a campus culture to greater access.

One of those students was Hugo Trevino, who developed his passion for international travel while an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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