Why you should study abroad if you have a disability?
On August 12, 2021, I was invited by Mobility International & National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE) for a guest speakership for the 2021 cohort of the Access to Exchange Summer Institute (AESI).
This was the AESI first cohort so I felt really honored to speak to a young group of optimistic students who were visually challenged, mobility-challenged, deaf & signers, and autistic and ADHD. The diversity of their lived experiences was very much the focus. They all were curious to embark on an international study or intern/extern experience outside of the US.
As human rights professionals, we were asked to share and describe life for people with disabilities in our home country. We shared our community and international work to advance disability rights and advocacy in education & employment.
My panel on Day 2 included disability & human rights advocates from Pakistan-to-US (me), China-to-US, Congo-to-New Mexico, India-to-US.
Target audience: 18–30 years old students with disabilities planning their first academic exchange program from the USA to other countries of the world. Students learned about disability rights and cultures around the world. They were challenged to think more broadly about the kinds of countries where a disabled person could go. They met a panel of human rights professionals with disabilities who described life for people with disabilities in their home country as well as their work to advance disability rights.
Some of the things I talked about were:
- Embracing my identity- it's not easy when you are diagnosed with hearing loss by birth or live with a challenge that is non-mainstreamed. I explained how I spent my time in the hearing world and learned to speak so I am verbal but hard of hearing.
- A country’s laws determine how much disability-related accommodations you can expect to receive when you’re traveling. Developed countries such as the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Europe (in this order) have sound laws — it would be a cultural shock “disability-wise” to know that if you are visiting Pakistan, India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, you may not have caption service providers or written announcements at airports, bus stations. Here I told them how I use cabs so I don’t have to make phone calls but there are other challenges to tackle each day.
- I was asked by one visually challenged student with ADHD: “When did I embrace my identity?” People often think that it was smooth sailing for me. It never is for anyone. I struggled a lot with bullying in high school, and coming to terms with the fact that my life will never be linear. The Fulbright exchange program definitely made me 200% more confident, more sure about myself — that I wanted to advocate and transform lives through amplifying hidden voices.
- I agreed with others that the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) has no substitute in any part of the world yet it’s not a perfect act/law itself. As a law, it strives to protect and safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities (J1, F1 visa students are fully covered by this law too at zero cost to them if they need campus and classroom accommodations: Prospective and current international students to the US, this is for you!). I also shared how it is important to critique ADA and discrimination suits that often happen and are filed in civil and supreme courts in the US.
- We all shared a list of disability-friendly organizations in our home country should a student from the US wishes to study a semester or intern in our home country (externship). I mentioned 2–4 non-profits in Pakistan that are leading the way. I also explained the importance of establishing and maintaining a Point of Contact (POC) who has a strong understanding of a student’s disability, their needs and assists them with local traveling, housing accommodations, and emergency support, etc.
My panel included women who had truly embraced themselves but all had fought stereotypes and battled societal challenges. For instance, the one in China described how it was taboo to even say the word ‘disability’ in her Chinese household, and how prosthetic limbs were not allowed. She told us she gave a TED talk to speak about how she fought her way to the US, got a Star-wars prosthetic limb, and now pursuing a PhD from the University of Maryland and consulting for the World Bank. The panelist from Congo was requested by her National Ministry to develop programs for women with disabilities in New Mexico. The minister was moved by her social media stories and invited her personally to move to NM and settle there. Her childhood and academics were entirely spent by her mother carrying her on her shoulder over many steps in the building all the way up and down, and crawling in the indigenous fields where they both worked. The one from India to the US mentioned how people ‘assumed’ she does not have language skills because of her dwarfism (she prefers this term).
Whenever she spoke up in a conference or walk into an office for tasks, people were shocked to see her ‘speak’.
I talked about those few instances when employers thought that I am non-verbal and would need a sign language interpreter so they did not hire me for a position I fit in perfectly. I also shared how people who ‘always ask and not assume’ are one of the most professionally mature ones out there. I mentioned how in my day-to-day higher education consultation with clients, my focus is inclusion —
I am not afraid of sharing my life story. My story gives clients and students hope that if I could do it with my hearing challenge (deaf by birth), they could do much better as well. I's not a competition, nor “thank God, I don’t have a disability, otherwise I do not know how would I have survived”.
This is ableist thinking:
“I am superior to people with disabilities because I don’t have a disability so I’m better than others”.
“I am able to access products so inaccessibility does not concern me.”
I am a huge proponent of study abroad — the experience you gain from living and studying (mostly) on your own from figuring out accommodations to navigating your academic, internships, employment, travels to social hangouts due to a disability or a challenge, to presenting in a big classroom cohort to networking successfully with professors to improving your intercultural competency. You own your failures, and you will feel frustrated when academic rigor reaches its peak at the end of the semester but you emerge stronger than your pre-application self!
For the attendees of this summer access program in the US, I hope all these stories from us were those of renewed hope for them. They did learn that embracing their identity takes time and that we must advocate to be each other’s strong allies and help them support in their quest to succeed and earn well in the academic and professional world respectively.
Traveling and studying abroad changes you permanently for good!
Be afraid of not taking that step when it could well be your life’s best shot.
(You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, remember?)
Take that leap now! Things will fall into place, I promise you.
Next Medium story coming up next month: How I started advocating for hidden voices in Pakistan and South Asia?
Signed off by an education consultant, an advocate for accessibility, and a Fulbright alumna in Special Education. For the larger part of my life, I had missed out on funny and meaningful conversations with friends and family members. I also missed out on a great cinematic experience in Pakistan because of no access to live or close captions (subtitles). I have been part of ableist workplaces and grew up with extended family members who gaslit and gatekept, to demonstrate a superiority complex. Nonetheless, I am truly grateful for these early childhood, teen, and pre-Fulbright experiences that deeply shaped my mission to recognise subtle and overt signs of ableism/discrimination and why they occur. If educating is the key, so be it. The only power that changes anyone.
No more remaining a fly on the wall. Time to hit the nail through participatory advocacy.
Connect by email: khaulariwanconsultancy@gmail.com
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