by Justin Harford
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION A World of Opportunities for People with Disabilities
A
while back I presented to a vision loss support group on international education , and the services of the State Departmentfunded National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange ( NCDE ), where I work . I was struck by the group members ' thoughtful questions , their hunger to experience more of what the world has to offer and how much they were beset by self-doubt and anxiety . One older woman shared how she used to enjoy traveling in other countries without a tour group , because of the freedom it gave her to just explore and take things in , and while other members reminded her that she could go abroad with an accessible tour company , she longed to experience that
sense of autonomy which she perceived to be lost to her declining vision .
If you think about it , the language around travel is very centered around the nondisabled experience . Travelers globetrot . They sightsee . They experience countries through the sights , the tastes , the sounds and the smells . Implicit in the language is the assumption that somebody cannot get very much out of traveling without a set of 5 functioning senses , a pair of legs on which to canter , a card of negative allergy tests , and a heaping dose of mental and physical stamina .
The thing about it is that countries are not made up of food , pollution , car horns , or paintings . They are made up of human beings , and the best and most accessible way to meaningfully experience those is through international education .
International education , which could include study , volunteerism or internships , is the perfect way for people with all kinds of disabilities to experience the world with as much support or independence as they might desire . Judy Jones ( lower back pain and asthma ) spent almost a year in Belize as a Peace Corps Response volunteer mentoring 2nd grade educators on best practices for teaching literacy after a career in education spanning more than 20 years . Johna Wright
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