Guest Blogger, Juanita Lillie, of Coopersville, shares about her experience traveling abroad.
In 2013 I left Grand Valley State University to study abroad in Costa Rica. There, I surfed, went horseback riding in Monteverdi, zip-lined on the longest lines in Latin America, visited several beaches and traveled to many more beautiful places with my supportive friends and wonderful host family. My trip abroad taught me many lessons: I am more empathetic and accepting towards ideas that are different from my own. Additionally, I believe it has made me a stronger advocate for myself and others. Although I was confronted with some challenges, I had an unforgettable experience!
During the pre-departure process, I knew there were going to be challenges concerning the language and culture. However, I was also worried about whether or not accommodations were available for people with disabilities. I was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which became increasingly worse as I grew older. Although I have some useable vision, reading or writing in print is difficult. Consequently, I used the services offered by the disabilities office to complete various tests and assignments. Aside from thinking about the academic aspect, I also wondered if the streets and sidewalks could be navigated successfully if one were new to the area. The most pressing hurtle I faced before I left, however, was informing others that I was going to go abroad with a disability. A great number of people thought my family was crazy because they were supporting me through the process that they thought I should never complete. There was a point when I just started telling everyone that I was not the only blind person who had done this and that there were other blind people living in Costa Rica.
Of course, I did not have a clue about how my host family, other students, and locals in San Pedro were going to view my disability. In truth, I never thoroughly investigated the perception of “disability” in Costa Rica, because I felt that each person had their own views and treated the idea of disability differently. Furthermore, I wanted to speak to others with disabilities, whether they had traveled abroad or lived in the country.
When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. I discovered that people do not see disabilities as negative—they accept and work around them. I landed a day before my program began, so I stayed in a hotel by myself. The airport and hotel care in Costa Rica was fantastic. They offered a helping hand, but in a different way than people do in the United States. People in the U.S. would try to grab my arm or take items out of my hands while they are assisting me. However, many individuals that helped me there were very descriptive when I would walk with them and they allowed me to carry my own items. While traveling, I found that many locals were curious about my mobility. They asked how I knew where I was going and they wondered how I became so independent. My independence was new to them because people with disabilities tended to travel with their families and not alone.
Once I met my host family, I learned that they wanted me to be just as independent as my family in the United States. Whenever I would travel with my host family and other locals, they would be extremely verbal with the geographic description. This was very helpful, because there were many uneven sidewalks and paths that had numerous holes, dips, cracks and barriers which made it difficult to travel with my cane. In fact, I vividly remember that on the first day I met my host mom, she described everything around me in Spanish while she drove to our home (the color of the houses and apartments being just a few examples). I never had such an awesome description in a car ride before.
Fortunately, I had caring friends who assisted me when we would tour the city and walk to class. My roommate and friends next door were extremely helpful. I just explained to them that the best way to help me was through sighted guide, which meant that I would lightly grab their elbow. However, I also used my cane to catch any upcoming dips, cracks and even some trash from time to time. One thing I noticed was that people were more descriptive than they were in the U.S. I believe this is because there were more uneven barriers. While I tripped many times, my roommate and friends from the program who could see perfectly told me about how they would catch their foot or something just as much as I did.
My need for assistance was not problematic because it was seen as common. In Costa Rica, all individuals lend each other a helping hand, especially when somebody is ill or needs assistance around the house. However, it took a few weeks until my roommates and I could convince my host family to allow us to do dishes. My host mom and grandma just wanted us to enjoy our time while we wanted to help out in any way we could.
Accommodations were also easy to obtain. In the classroom, for instance, I brought my assistive technology and I was welcomed to use the iPad, computer and magnifier. I communicated through email and utilized flash drives to turn in work or take tests. However, there was one main difference between colleges in the U.S. and Costa Rica: Professors discussed my needs in terms of accommodations for my disability in front of the class. At times, a professor would read exams to me when my peers were taking theirs. I personally did not have a problem because I have been open about my disability for the last few years. Although I was in the back of the classroom taking the exams, I felt bad for my peers because some may have needed the silence. Sometimes, I felt like a burden to the professor and a few of my classmate’s, but I quickly learned this is how it is normally done. I did not realize that my accommodations would be transferred by the university in Costa Rica. I wanted extra tutoring in a phonetics course, but I was told that I needed to pay for it. Although I paid for the extra sessions, I was frustrated by the additional fees that were included.
In terms of venturing outside of the house and school, I learned a lot of differences between the U.S and Costa Rica. Whenever I took the bus to go to other cities, I would automatically receive the first accessible seating without asking. This is different from my experience in the United States, where accessible seating must be requested. Aside from transportation factors, the bills and coins were easy to recognize. The bills were colorful and sized differently, while the coins were all different sizes with dissimilar edges. When I went on tours, they would have another staff member of the organization assist me with activities such as surfing and zip-lining. It was as if I had a personal trainer. They were very motivating and they wanted me to complete any task that came up. In fact, a few people did not want me to surf but the guide told me that I needed to do it because he knew it was possible. My favorite thing that he said was that “you cannot let others think you cannot do it and if they do, do it anyways. Of course, be smart, but you can do a lot.”
Once I returned home after a semester-long trip, I experienced some reverse culture shock in regards to having a disability. Often times when I am in groups, people in the United States would ask members of the group I am in questions like, “What is her name” or “What does she want?” In Costa Rica, people spoke directly to me and never pointed out my disability immediately. If anything, they were curious and we would have casual conversations about my blindness.
Travel was different. During my study abroad experience, students were required to renew their passports in order to prolong their stay in the country. As a result, I went to Panama and remained there for a long weekend. While having a night out with some friends, I happened to lose my cane in the ocean. After returning to Costa Rica, I received a new one and learned that the canes are shorter. The organization told me that they need to be shorter because of all the holes, cracks, curves, dips, etc. I thought I would buy two because they were extremely cheap. But I learned that they really do not work in the United States. This is because the roads and sidewalks are constructed differently. Once the semester came to an end, it was strange to go back to spotless walkways and streets. I remember saying while in Costa Rica, “Wow, this corner is terrible with all the cracks.” My experience abroad taught me that the accessibility in the U.S. is more developed in some areas such as the sidewalks, and less developed in others, such as the currency.
Another area in which Costa Rica is not as well developed in terms of accessibility has to do with requesting reasonable accommodations in class. While instructors were willing to accommodate me, some materials were still not able to be adapted. Sometimes they would just excuse me from doing the task and implement something else. In addition, there was not an exclusive disability support office. What was actually interesting was that my professors did not even know that a student who is blind was going to be in their class, even though I tried to push others to give me their contact information ahead of time so that I could warn them.
After researching laws and cultures of different countries, I quickly learned that you need to think as if you are a resident of that country. This is because the laws and perspectives on disabilities vary from place to place. For example, students in the U.S are able to receive reasonable accommodations, while in Costa Rica, this was not mandatory. . I decided to do something about this.
Since January 2014, I have been working on a project with Doctor Natalia Gómez where I have been researching and developing ideas on how to promote inclusion within university Study Abroad offices and Study Abroad programs across the United States. I created a Facebook page called “Abroad With Disabilities,” which provides a platform to discuss topics related to going abroad with any disability, as well as a place for my team and I to share any relevant resources. Our Twitter account, @awdteam, serves a similar purpose. Our website, abroadwithdisabilities.weebly.com, also contains useful tips, resources, and a place for people who have gone abroad to share their stories. I want to see more students with disabilities go abroad by promoting inclusion across the nation.