FINDING A PLACE :
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES IN INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

By Michele Scheib, Project Specialist, Mobility International USA, with legal excerpts from Silvia Yee and Larisa Cummins[1]

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Traveling with a purpose meant more than just visiting U.S. sites for Alena, a high school student from Russia. Each year the U.S. Department of State brings young people from Eurasia (such as Russia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan) to study as high school students in the United States on the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Program. Amongst the 1300 participants are students with disabilities like Alena, a fifteen year old with a visual impairment, who was placed in Texas.

Coming to the United States from a small school for blind students in Siberia, she found herself as the only visually impaired student in a public school with 3,000 other teenagers. Yet she adjusted well, made good friends, and grew more independent in the process. “I loved my host family and school very much,” said Alena. “My [resource] teacher introduced me to different [adaptive] technologies, which I couldn't have learned in Russia. I am very grateful for the opportunity. I was thinking that I would get lots of regular print books and go to my host parents to read for me, but they got me everything in Braille. It was really awesome! Every day at school gave me more exciting news, which continued to make my stay better.” Alena competed in track meets and learned to ski with a sighted guide. She experienced school dances, pep rallies and American holidays while spending her year studying in the United States.

How did Alena’s youth exchange organization, Educational Resource Development Trust (ERDT/SHARE!), and her host school in the United States plan for this successful study abroad experience?

A good working relationship with the host school and school district, and a willingness to involve community organizations and other individuals were critical, according to Greta James-Maxfield, an area coordinator for ERDT/SHARE!, This is especially true given the short time frame of a few months or a single year that exchange students are in the United States. Fortunately, James-Maxfield found a good placement for Alena in Texas. While she had never before placed a student with a disability, a combination of factors made it work.

• The presence of the Texas School for the Blind in the area has resulted in accessibility and community awareness regarding individuals with visual impairments.
• Many staff members of the Round Rock School District had experience working with visually impaired students who were mainstreamed into large public schools, so they had access to the necessary materials and equipment before Alena arrived.
• The host school serves many students from diverse backgrounds, so staff members were very accepting of a student arriving from overseas.

The largest factor, however, was the creative team of Alena, James-Maxfield and Judy Loving, one of the resource teachers for visually impaired students in the school district. Working together, they tried out different strategies when presented with potential barriers, and remained positive about what they would each learn from the experience.

James-Maxfield started her search for school and homestay placements for Alena by sending an email message to organizations and people in the area involved in the disability community. “When I first started looking for a host family and school for Alena, I didn’t know what they were talking about when they would ask me what type of Braille she reads. People also asked if she is partially or totally blind, which I didn’t know until she got here. You need to have a strategy for answering questions like that and have a strategy for dealing with people’s fears about how much it will cost their family or school district. I had so many people say a blind student is going to be really expensive to host,” said James-Maxfield.

In addition to creative strategies and a positive attitude, U.S. federal discrimination laws can be used to educate school districts and help ensure the educational rights of students with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) issued a policy statement [2] clarifying that students with disabilities who possess a “temporary resident” card from the Immigration and Naturalization Service may receive no-cost special education services if they have a qualifying disability. The OSEP policy advises that a school cannot outright refuse to provide special education services to a foreign exchange student that has been accepted into the program. Equally important, and before that point is even reached, no school can simply state that foreign students with disabilities are ineligible for placement at the school. No high school or school district can be forced to take part in a foreign exchange program, but once the decision to participate has been made, the high school or district cannot use discriminatory criteria or operate the program in a discriminatory manner.

AVI International's health insurance policies may of course cover any student with disability, but please note that all costs in relation with a preexisting condition will be excluded.

In Alena’s case, the host family, who was involved with the Texas Commission for the Blind, did not pay costs related to her disability. The local school already had many of the technologies and accommodations that Alena would need, or had received loans or donated equipment from outside the school. In addition, the FLEX program provided Alena with a stipend as part of her scholarship and would have offered some funding support for disability-related accommodations if needed. James-Maxfield relates: “I ended up selling the host school on the idea that the school personnel were going to learn so much from Alena, and that was true. In the end, they appreciated that.”

Resource teacher Loving, who worked one-on-one with Alena for an hour and half everyday to teach new skills and technology, confirms this. “From the very beginning we had to get her medical eye report and evaluate her to determine how much vision she had and what her needs were. I don’t think she had ever been on a computer; she’d never used a Braille typewriter. We had to get her going very quickly on learning contracted, grade two Braille code because that’s what all the high school textbooks were,” said Loving. “Even if it seems like an enormous task at first, it’s just so worthwhile. I’ve worked with visually impaired kids for twenty years and Alena is one of the top students I’ve ever had. It’s strictly because she was so motivated, so excited and such a hard worker that it made my job so easy. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I anticipate that we’ll stay in touch for a long time.”

With her energy and enthusiasm, Alena learned the grade two Braille code, consisting of about 200 symbols, within two months after arriving. She also improved her English with a talking dictionary provided by her school, and became adept at using new technology loaned to the school by the state education center. This included screen reading software and a handheld computer that could give her instant Braille or audio access to electronic text and provide her faster note taking capabilities than the slate and stylus she had brought with her from Russia.

“The best skill she came with was that she wasn’t afraid to ask questions or to attempt anything. She was a quick learner and a hard worker, and that made all the difference,” said Loving. “Once the teachers saw her positive, outgoing attitude and how eager she was to learn, they found she was a great person to have in the classroom for the other kids.”

James-Maxfield, who was working with FLEX students for the first time also learned from hosting Alena. “I didn’t know anything about blindness and I learned a lot about it through her. I also learned about Russia, and it was interesting to have those two overlays in getting to know Alena and her perspectives.”

Her year in the United States was a growing experience for Alena in many ways. For example, she had an Orientation and Mobility instructor every week to teach her to cross streets, travel places and learn about riding buses on her own. “[Before this year] she had never used a long cane for mobility, so she had mobility training here and received a cane. At first, she wasn’t so keen on it; her host family would have trouble at first to get her to take her cane when they went out,” said Loving. “I think as time went on and she saw how she didn’t have to rely on someone to tell her when there were steps or a curb, she really took to it and just always had it with her. Returning home with all these new skills, I think it was a real transition for her and her family.”

At the end of her exchange year, Alena reflected back, “When I got to Texas I didn’t want to use my cane because I didn’t want anybody to see that I’m blind. Now I’m perfect, and I don’t really care if they know. At first I was walking around tripping over stuff and not finding my classes. Then my host mom said you must use your cane because the school is too big for you to remember without it. I just had to take it and use it. I’m a really active person and I really like to do a lot of stuff; I was involved in everything.”

Alena added, “It’s really important for students with disabilities to participate in the FLEX program. You can look back on the experience and you can try to improve things in your home country. You also get a wonderful experience of learning about American culture.”

For free information and referral on making successful placements for other youth with disabilities to study or volunteer in the United States, contact the U.S. Department of State sponsored National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange, c/o Mobility International USA, PO Box 10767, Eugene, Oregon, 97440, USA, Tel/TTY: 541-343-1284, Fax: 541-343-6812, Email: clearinghouse@miusa.org, Web: www.miusa.org.