Save the Date - A Disability Services and International Education Workshop in Chicago this coming August

Mobility International USA will be holding a disability services and international education workshop  at the Chicago Cultural Center on August 11th from 8:30am to 2:00pm. This workshop is designed to bridge understanding between disability services, study abroad, and international student services professionals. 

I'll post more information in May when registration opens!

Loud, Proud and Passionate! (sm) a new Mobility International USA Video

Signing and singing with passion in Arabic, Spanish and English, 54 disabled women activists from 43 countries celebrate the achievements, pride and solidarity of women with disabilities around the world. These leaders are revolutionizing the status of women and girls worldwide. Filmed during MIUSA’s 5^th International Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD), the Loud, Proud and Passionate!^(SM)  music video release marks the beginning of MIUSA’s 30^th Anniversary year-long celebration.

MIUSA's goal is to reach 2,500 views and to raise funds through donations for the next WILD program empowering women and girls with disabilities. Every donation large or small brings us closer to that goal! To donate, visit http://www.miusa.org/donate/wild.

WILD delegates in the video come from Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestinian Territories, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The video is captioned and a text video description is provided in English.

Music and English lyrics by Rich Glauber www.richglauber.com.

Video Produced and Directed by Sky's the Limit Creative Services. Camera, Editing and Audio by Dana Vion. www.skysthelimitcreative.com.

Mobility International USA (MIUSA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower people with disabilities around the world to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development. For more information visit www.miusa.org.

Open Doors Data on U.S. Students with Disabilities who Studied Abroad in 2008/09

For the third straight year, the Institute of International Education has collected and presented data on U.S. students with disabilities studying abroad.  During the 2008-2009 academic year, IIE collected data on 1,874 (3.6%) study abroad students with disabilities.  Unfortunately, we only have data on the specific disabilities for 10% of these students which is:

48.1% - Learning Disability/ADD 

24.6% - Mental Disability

15.0% - Other Disability

7.2% - Physical Disability

5.1% - Sensory Disability

Following is a screen shot from the Open Doors website comparing these data against data from the previous two years.

We all owe Mobility International USA a special thanks for advocating for the collection, analysis and presentation of this data and to the research staff at the Institute of International Education for a third straight year of data on these students!

Sept. 1 Deadline – Call for Disability Blogs on International Experiences

This IHEC Blog post is a copy and paste job from a SECUSS-L post (reposted with permission).  

People with disabilities are invited to send in personal blogs about participation in international exchange programs by September 1, 2010.  Please share this paid opportunity with people with disabilities currently residing in the United States (all nationalities welcome).
Do you keep an international travel blog? Would you like to share it with other people with disabilities who are interested in going abroad? If you are a person with a disability and have either studied, interned or volunteered abroad, the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE) would like to hear from you. Qualifying authors will earn $50 and their blogs will be posted to NCDE's Stories and Blogs page <http://www.miusa.org/ncde/stories>! Visit <http://www.miusa.org/ncde/ncdenewsevents/storiescall>to learn whether you qualify.
National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE)
Mobility International USA
132 E. Broadway, Suite 343
Eugene, OR 97401
Tel./TTY (541) 343-1284
Fax (541) 343-6812
http://www.miusa.org/ncde
http://www.facebook.com/mobility.international
http://www.twitter.com/mobilityINTL

Video of the Week - Interview with Fulbrighter Amos Winter about his Leveraged Freedom Chair project in India

The other day I came across the following video interview (via Twitter I think) with Amos Winter, Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, discussing testing his wheelchair design called the Leveraged Freedom Chair that is specifically designed for use in developing countries during his Fulbright to India.



You can learn more about the Leveraged Freedom Chair and make a donation to the LFC Project at http://mlab.mit.edu/lfc.php.

Data Collection and Students with Disabilities Who Study Abroad

For a second year, the Institute of International Education is collecing data on students with disabilities for their annual Open Doors survey. While all data collection efforts in the field are important I think this is perhaps one of the most important questions to be answered on the survey and I encourage all colleagues in the field to contribute to this effort.

The following basic disability statistics for study abroad were obtained from the Open Doors 2008 website here.

OPEN DOORS 2008 BASIC DISABILITY STATISTICS FOR STUDY ABROAD

Note: This is the first year that IIE has collected data on students with disabilities studying abroad. Due to the low response rate, this data should not be interpreted as a national-level finding.

116 institutions provided disability data for their study abroad students in 2006/07. Out of the approximately 39,400 total study abroad students at these institutions, 42.7% had no disability, 2.6% had disability and 54.7% had unknown disability status.

Types of disability reported were:

Learning Disability - 50.5%

Mental Disability - 25.4%

Physical Disability - 8.0%

Sensory Disability - 5.8%

Other Disability - 10.2%

Purdue University, San Diego State University and Linfield College reported the highest total numbers of students with disabilities studying abroad.

An additional summary of the Open Doors data collection efforts on students with disabilities who studied abroad in 2006-2007 is available on the Mobility International USA (MIUSA) website here.

IHEC Blog readers may also be interested in a recent article entitled “Tracking Student with Disabilities Who Study Abroad” by Michele Scheib March/April 2009 issue of NAFSA’s International Educator which you can access here.

See previous IHEC Blog posts on students with disabilities studying abroad here.

Foreign Exchange Students in U.S. High Schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004

My recent research efforts lead me to discover a really interesting article entitled Understanding Entitlement to Services and Protections under U.S. Special Education Law: Are Foreign Exchange High School Students Covered? which I think many IHEC Blog readers will also be interested in reading. This is a very interesting question and one I’m sure many high schools and foreign students have had to work through over the years. I’m also very interested in this question because it blends my previous professional career in human services where I attended more than my share of Individual Education Plan meetings in support of individuals with disabilities when I worked for Developmental Services of Nebraska (DSN) with my current career in international education.

I fully support international education opportunities for all students who want to challenge themselves in a foreign land regardless if they have a disability or not. We are making progress in the field of international education in serving individuals with disabilities. However, I think we have a long way to go. You can access the article here.

You can access previous IHEC Blog posts on individuals with disabilities and international education here.

Over 1,000 Students with Disabilities Studied Abroad in 2006/07

Today, my colleague Michele Scheib from Mobility International USA (MIUSA) will be a featured guest blogger. Michele is discussing the new Open Doors data on U.S. students with disabilities who studied abroad in 2006-2007. Michele’s post follows:

Over 1,000 students with disabilities from 116 U.S. post-secondary institutions studied abroad for credit in 2006/07, according to baseline figures from the Institute of International Education (IIE)’s annual Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange (http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/). This represents 2.6% of the total number of study abroad students. Half of the students with disclosed disabilities reported a learning disability, while one quarter reported mental disabilities. Students with physical, sensory or other disabilities comprised the remaining 25 percent. Students with disabilitiestypically represent 9% of the student population on U.S. campuses, according to U.S.Department of Education, National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies.

IIE collected the disability data for the first time this year, and hopes the low response rate will improve next year. Purdue University, San Diego State University and Linfield College reported the largest numbers of disabled students. Information on how to collect disability data can be found on the Open Doors website (http://tinyurl.com/3ak5fa).

The National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE) is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and administered by Mobility International USA. The NCDE provides free information and referral services to increase the participation of people with disabilities in international exchange programs. www.miusa.org/ncde

MIUSA Videos Now Free Online

Mobility International USA has now made all of their videos available for free on YouTube! High quality DVD videos for presentations or organizational use are also available for purchase from MIUSA by emailing: info@miusa.org. View the videos online by searching YouTube for “Mobility International USA” as a keyword to bring up all the videos or by visiting MIUSA's website at: http://www.miusa.org/publications/videos

Study Abroad Resources for Serving Students with Disabilities

I just returned from the CIEE conference in Toronto and several people in attendance had questions and were looking for resources to better serve students with disabilities. This summer I compiled a brief list of resources available on the web so I thought I'd share. The resource list follows:

Mobility International USA (MIUSA)
Excellent Site with Many Resources for Administrators and Students
http://miusa.org/publications

University of Minnesota Learning Abroad Center ~ Access Abroad
Excellent Site with Many Resources for Administrators and Students
http://www.umabroad.umn.edu/access/index.html

Mental Health and Crisis Management: Assisting University of Notre Dame Study Abroad Students (2002)
http://www.nd.edu/~ucc/International_Eds_Hdbk_I.html

Study and Work Abroad for People with Disabilities
http://www.independentliving.org/studyworkabroad/
A website which lists the programs available in a multitude of countries worldwide including information about local conditions as well as the organizations which are looking for new contacts.

Higher Education Accessibility Guide
http://www.european-agency.org/heag/
This website is a guide to the accessibility services which are available in Higher Education Institutions across Europe. The information includes contact information to a large number of European institutes and programs which specialize in providing resources for those with disabilities who would like to travel abroad.

Student Disability Travel Resources for Europe
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0103/students_with_disabilities_in_europe.shtml A resourceful website with contact information for various institutions and programs specializing in those with disabilities.

No Barriers to Study (NBTS)
http://www3.vjc.edu/nobarrierstostudy/index.html The NBTS is a consortium of college and university professionals from the areas of disability services, international programs, study abroad, diversity and other interested groups. The NBTS group meets twice a year to discuss issues and concerns regarding students with disabilities studying abroad.