On a warm Friday afternoon, 20 young leaders from 18 countries arrived at the Eugene, Oregon Airport for MIUSA’s Preparatory Workshop for Students with Disabilities. The MIUSA workshop was the students’ last stop before embarking on a year-long academic exchange in high schools across the United States. For some, it was also their first time meeting peers with similar disabilities.

These talented students, representing the highly competitive Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) and Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programs, hailed from Bangladesh, Estonia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Mali, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Tunisia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 

At MIUSA’s Preparatory Workshop, students learned and practiced how to advocate for themselves as needed, to ensure they can experience everything they hope to experience during their exchange year. To prepare students for self-advocacy, MIUSA’s workshop build on students’ knowledge of the rights of people with disabilities in the U.S., and the accommodations and tools that may be available to them in their host schools and communities.

Every activity of MIUSA’s Preparatory Workshop aims to prepare students for the various situations they may encounter as exchange students with disabilities by providing them with knowledge, tools, and confidence to advocate for themselves.

“[After the workshop], I know what accommodations I can ask for and what are my rights as a disabled person.” – 2024-25 FLEX Student with a physical disability

“MIUSA really helped me to understand how I can navigate through this journey and also [taught me] about some acts and laws in the USA which I can benefit from them [during my exchange year].” – 2024-25 YES Student with a physical disability

Key activities at the workshop included:

Accommodations and Accessibility

Students learned about important laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the history of activism by people with disabilities that led to laws being enacted.  They also experienced the access and accommodations that resulted from the laws, which make schools, facilities, parks, transportation, and activities inclusive of community members with and without disabilities.

High School Visit

A visit to Willamette High School prepared students to consider how they will navigate their U.S. high schools. With indoor and outdoor campus space, staircases and elevators, classrooms filled with desks, and lockers lining the hallways, students were asked to think about:

• What accommodations might you need to navigate these hallways when they are crowded?
• Where in the classroom might you need to sit to see or hear your teachers?
• Could you carry a backpack full of heavy textbooks from class on the first floor to your next class upstairs?
• Who might you reach out to, to request the accommodations you need?

“I was worried about the high school and how I’ll navigate it, but after the visit to [Willamette High School] I think that I’m quite confident enough to go to high school now.” – 2024-25 YES Student with a physical disability

Adaptive Recreation

Community activities, such as hiking at Mount Pisgah with all-terrain wheelchairs, riding adaptive cycles, and visiting a local fitness center that welcomes people with and without disabilities, gave students an opportunity to consider new ways they and their peers could participate in recreation in their host communities. For many students, exploring adaptive equipment and accessible facilities was a new and exciting experience.

“The hike was by far my favorite thing because I love everything about hiking and being around nature, but I never thought it was possible for someone like me. I learned that there are a lot of wheelchairs for different things like for hiking, so I feel like that will be really useful [during my exchange year].” –2024-25 YES Student with a physical disability

Volunteer Experience

MIUSA’s Preparatory Workshop also gave students their first of many volunteer experiences while in the U.S., as community service is a requirement for all FLEX and YES students. Partnering with Eugene-based School Garden Project, students spent a morning maintaining a local garden used for outdoor education programs, and later that afternoon, discussed other ideas for inclusive volunteer opportunities in their host communities.

Engaging with Local Community

During their short time in Eugene, students met community members with and without disabilities, including high school and college students, recreation leaders, athletes, teachers, business owners, artists, government workers and more.  These conversations provided opportunities to practice English or American Sign Language in conversations about disability experience, family, cultures, travel, school life, hobbies, and more.

Students also met individually with school-based specialists who provided more detailed explanations of accommodations and services that may be available in students’ host schools. Specialists shared ideas and strategies for students as they prepared to begin their year in U.S. high schools.

As one student reflected, “The MIUSA workshop was an eye-opening experience […]. I gained a lot of awareness, confidence, and my fears decreased. I actually started feeling like a leader and not just some kid with a disability that got lucky.” -2024-25 FLEX Student with a physical disability

As students have begun to settle into their host communities, we invite you to join us in wishing these young leaders of the 2024-25 MIUSA Preparatory Workshop a successful exchange year!