 We learn together, we work together, and we prosper together. And welcome to a special EducationUSA interactive web chat about educational opportunities for international students with disabilities. I'm Evan Ryan, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, and I'm delighted you could join us. Today's web chat will highlight the resources available to international students with a wide range of abilities and how U.S. colleges and universities can support them in studying in the United States. We know the prospect of campus life abroad can seem both exciting and challenging for any student. Our goal is to provide guidance and support for international students from diverse backgrounds who want to study in the United States. The theme of this year's International Education Week is Access for All, and we are pleased to feature programs that provide equal access and equal opportunity for all international students attending U.S. institutions. We are proud of the United States track record in creating open and inclusive educational spaces, and our campuses provide disability-related services to all, regardless of citizenship. I'd like to thank Judy Heumann, the State Department's Special Advisor for International Disability Rights, and our esteemed panelists for joining us and lending their expertise to this important conversation. Today, we will discuss ways in which student services offices on U.S. campuses meet a wide range of student needs through advocacy, support, and academic programs. Online experts are also standing by to answer your questions about visas, campus life, and other topics related to studying in the U.S. We all want to hear from you. I encourage you to post your questions and comments in the chat space beside the video player. I hope you will find today's interactive web chat helpful as you explore your interest in studying abroad in the United States. Thanks again for joining us today. Enjoy the program. Good morning and good evening to all of our guests. I'm Judy Heumann, the U.S. State Department's Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. I'm happy to be with you today as we continue to honor the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act with this web chat on resources for students with disabilities studying at U.S. universities and colleges. Today, as a part of International Education Week's Access for All Programming, we'll be talking about the types of support and programming available to students with disabilities who want to study in the United States. This program is a part of the study in the U.S. web chat series, which answers questions from students around the world who are interested in studying in the United States. There are a lot of great programs available for you to view about admissions, English language requirements, and what university classes are like. As a disabled person myself, I understand that you may have questions about what it is like to study in the United States with a student with a disability. Today, I'm proud to say that I'm joined by a panel of experts who can answer some of those questions for you. Let's meet our panelists. Sitting to my right is Diego Mariscal. Originally from Mexico, Diego received his Bachelor's of Arts in International Studies from American University here in Washington, D.C. Diego has cerebral palsy and a learning disability. After participating in the 2004 Paralympics, Diego developed a student group addressing disability pride, which later developed into an organization, Together-International. He is now the CEO and chief disabled person at Together-International, and is used to reinforce the fostering of disability pride and identity across college campuses worldwide by emphasizing the importance of disability as a part of human diversity. To the right of Diego is Seth Ravitt. Seth is the Associate Director of Technology Access at George Washington University, also in Washington, D.C., where he works in close collaboration with stakeholders across the university. He led the development of a strategic plan to implement accessibility initiatives and serves as a consultant to the GWU campus community, providing guidance on web content and course materials. He's also a member of the university's accessibility oversight committee. His previous work includes 11 years as a strategy manager with IBM Accessibility. He participated in IBM Corporate Service Corporation programs and spent time in Indonesia where he worked with a disability nonprofit, non-governmental organization on several accessibility initiatives. Seth holds an MBA from Cornell University in upstate New York and a Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration from Gallaudet University here in Washington, D.C. And finally, joining us virtually is Monica Melhotra, a project manager with the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange at Mobility International USA. Mobility International is an organization which aims to increase participation of people with disabilities in international exchange programs. Previously, Monica worked for 10 years at the University of Texas in Austin where she assisted with admissions, immigration, student counseling, and sponsored student programs as the Senior International Student Coordinator for English as a Second Language Services and as International Student Advisor at the International Office. Thank you all very much for joining us today. If you have questions that you'd like our guests to address, please share them via the chat space next to the video player or on Twitter using the hashtag study in the USA. We'll be answering many of your questions now and we will also provide answers and links to resources in the chat space. I'm going to begin with the first question. Why should an international student with a disability consider applying to U.S. college or university? Seth, would you like to start? Sure. Many universities in the United States have disability offices to provide services to students with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. And now 25, that was 25 years ago, now many universities are much more prepared to provide services to people with disabilities. One example of some services that we provide are interpreting services, captioning services, alternative format production for blind and low vision students who use screen reader software, note taking, test proctoring. Thank you. So Diego, as this person who came from Mexico to study in the U.S., maybe you could share a little bit about why you think it's valuable to study here. Yeah, of course. Well, so firstly, I wanted to study in the U.S. because of all the access that it had. I was raised in Mexico, but we had the opportunity to go to the states for two years where I needed surgery. And so it was a really life-changing experience to go from a place where a disability in Mexico where a disability is often seen as a problem and something that you have to fight to get access to and then going to the states for the surgery that I needed, it wasn't a problem. It was just something different that people were willing to accommodate. So that was the first aspect that drew me to studying in the U.S. But I think what made me want to stay and continue to do the work that I'm doing was really the culture and the acceptance of disability and the community of disability because I think with the ADA, it wasn't just the passage of loss and access. It was the creation of a community and a movement that motivates people and engages people to want to be involved. So I would encourage students to come and study in the U.S. not just for the accessibility aspect but also for the culture and the acceptance of disability. Would you like to join? Sure, thank you. I think we did fight a boldly almost when you're the benefit of everyone of people who run an international exchange program. And so this should also be both disabilities and just as a step in the development of the access and development of people that aren't here for this as a mark for international disabilities to put into the program. Thank you. So Diego, what kinds of services, if any, did you need as a student having cerebral palsy and a learning disability? And were you able to get those services? Yeah, it was hard because in Mexico, growing up in Mexico, the procedures and the practices in place to serve accommodations needed weren't there. And so it was really hard to be able to come from a country that doesn't have that to a country that does have that. And so I had to do a lot of research but I was able to find support in the Disability Support Service Office at American University and I got testing accommodations where I would take tests with double the amount of time that a regular student would. So that was a great accommodation for my academic disability. And for the physical aspects of my cerebral palsy, they were able to accommodate classrooms where if a classroom wasn't a building that wasn't accessible, they would change the classroom to a different location. And what's funny is that often the rest of the students in the classroom actually appreciated that more because when a classroom was changed to an accessible location, it was usually not just more accessible to me but accessible to everyone. So that just comes to show that when you're thinking of access, it's not just for the person with a disability but it actually benefits everyone. And Seth, I think our audience realizes that you're deaf and we said earlier that you went to Cornell University for your masters. So I'm wondering, did you need accommodations? Did you get those accommodations? And how did that happen? Yeah, I got my MBA at Cornell University and I'm always grateful to their Disability Support Services. Really they've been very proactive from day one. Actually before I even came into the school in the fall, they started talking with me in the summer to make sure what kind of needs I had and everything that they could provide. And I provided documentation of my disability and they provided interpreting services, note-taking services, captioning services. Even for case studies in the evening, I had an interpreter that worked with other students and they were more than happy to provide that service in the evenings as well. So I'm always grateful for that. And that enabled you to successfully complete your MBA and to also really have the full experience of the university. That's right, yep. And I tell people one of the highlights of my experience is interacting with students from 30 different countries. Really it enhanced everyone's learning experience. Okay, so we have a Russian online viewer who's deaf who's asking about funding options for disabled people. She writes, I want to break barriers and find out how to make education accessible to disabled foreign students. What funding options are available for an international student like this correspondent? Would you like to join us, Monica? Sure. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you fine. Okay, great. Yes, there are many options for financial options. There is Gallaudet University has scholarships. Disability.gov also offers scholarships for people with disabilities with a list of students who are blind, deaf, and various disabilities. Our website, myusa.gov, also has many resources for students with disabilities looking at different organizations, sponsor scholarships. We'd really encourage anyone to look at our funding options website. Thank you. And I think it's fair to say that students with disabilities should look for scholarships that may specifically focus on disabled individuals. There are not huge numbers of those types of scholarships, but there are some. But students with disabilities should also look at scholarships that may be offered at the universities you're applying to, not just for disabled individuals, but for people based on qualifications. So don't limit your pursuit of funding if you are looking for support to study here in the United States. And also, I want to re-emphasize what Monica said about the website information that myusa has. If I could give a little background on my story. So when I applied to the U.S., I actually had no money to pay for college. And I just decided to apply, and I came to the U.S. not knowing how I was going to pay for college. And I found the services and the support and the community that I needed to do so when I was here. So I realized that for some people that may be a little drastic, but what I'm trying to say is apply, and once you get in, start looking before and after. Start looking for funding options, but don't limit yourself from applying just because you don't have the funding resources apply, and then I'm sure the support will come and the community will come to assist you. We have a question from David from Nairobi. Welcome, David. David would like to know how to build an awareness campaign for people with hidden disabilities. What advice would you have for him? I think that's a really excellent question. And from a university perspective, I think what's also valuable is a growing number of students on college campuses, are individuals with invisible disabilities, like learning disabilities and psychosocial disabilities. Monica, would you like to address this at all? Yeah, and can you repeat the question? Is he interested in building an awareness campaign for people with hidden disabilities? Yes, and this is here working with ESL students with undiagnosed learning disabilities. It was the awareness, anything that you can learn from our campaigns that we've done successfully. And building a group, finding a suitable group, educating your communities, and also educating those communities about opportunities here to study in the United States. How people with hidden disabilities are provided accommodations and equal access to education. And I'm wondering also for Diego or Seth on college campuses, numbers of college campuses around the United States have disabled student organizations. Is that also a place to help discuss issues and advocate more with people who have hidden disabilities? And what are your experiences? Yeah, at George Washington University, Disability Support Services is under the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. And other departments include the Multicultural Student Services Organization. And so we exchange best practices and we also have a program for international students. So, like Counseling Center, we help with the transition. And we do have students with visible disabilities and invisible disabilities. Learning disabilities, students with autism. I think more universities are promoting a welcoming and inclusive environment and community. So from the student perspective, my suggestion would be encourage your peers to share their stories. I think that is the most important piece, especially when you're talking about invisible disabilities. A lot of people are ashamed of their disability and don't want to disclose their disability. But as soon as they meet someone that has a similar disability or has a similar experience, they're much more willing to disclose it and to contribute to the conversation. So from the student perspective, I think the simplest thing you can do is encourage other people to share their stories and share that story not just within your network but with the community abroad in the university. I also think it's important to say that individual students and non-students with hidden disabilities, it's a new issue relatively speaking in the United States, as well as in countries around the world. As Diego was saying, in many cases people who have an invisible disability don't want to disclose because they're afraid of further stigma. So coming to the United States to study, you'd also be a part of communities at universities where in fact there are a growing number of students with invisible disabilities that the resource centers are in fact providing services to. And in some cases where there isn't a need for additional services because certain components of accessibility have already been built into college life. Monica, you want to add anything to this? I can speak personally. I have a non-appearance ability. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about 10 years ago. And it is the challenge of times when you have to speak up about your needs. You shouldn't be ashamed or anything about this. It's important for people to know when you need accommodations, when you need access. And so I encourage you to speak up and to raise awareness within the community. Thank you. Another viewer from Nigeria writes, sports are an important part of my life. What types of social or extracurricular opportunities are available to students with disabilities outside of the classroom? We'd like to go first. Monica, you want to go first? Sure, sure, sure. Students with disabilities have access to adaptive sports, to social events, every student groups on campus. You see wheelchair users in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby. You see blind students involved in goalball where it's like soccer with a bell and playing the ball. So hear the ball and there's adaptive cycling. Anything jogging, running. And the universities do provide access to events on campuses if there's plays or any social activities that the university is sponsoring that they will make sure that the student has their accommodations and have access to those events. And also just to mention student groups. There's a lot of student groups and disability specific student groups. That's great for them to meet here and to understand from different cultures of similar things they can learn from each other and a cultural understanding of people with similar disabilities on campuses. Thank you. Also students with disabilities can start their own organizations. For example, my wife who went to Gallaudet University, she is also deaf and that was maybe 15 years ago. Gallaudet University didn't have a women's soccer team and my wife and a few other girls, college students, got together, met with the athletic director at the time and formed a women's soccer team. And that was 15 years ago, they still have the soccer team today. So there's always something new. Yeah. So from my experience specifically in the U.S. and specifically talking about sports, I actually found it really difficult because I, like Judy said in my introduction, I used to be a Paralympian so I really wanted to get involved in swimming and actually the university said that I couldn't join the team because I had a disability and so that was a very hard, you know, realization and that was something that I was really upset about and I actually, that's part of why I continue to do the advocacy work that I do because I found it really frustrating that I wasn't able to join the school's swimming team because of my disability. So other than sports, in my case, I think that particularly in my experience I was able to participate in any other club activities on campus so that was really great and I think also starting your own organization is a really interesting, viable option too. At American University when I first joined it wasn't an organization focused around disability and so it really was an opportunity to bring disabled students together and bring disability at the forefront of the discussion so I would encourage students to and it doesn't have to be disability related. You can create an organization for whatever you're passionate about. I think at American there was an organization where they would get together and watch movies and they got funding from the university to get together and watch movies and that was the club and that was the after-school activity so there's plenty to do. Also I'd like to say that there are many universities around the United States where disabled students are very active in sports activities some of which are Paralympian types of sports where disabled individuals can participate in Excel universities in Arizona and California and Illinois and all over the country so it speaks to the broader issue of if sports is something that you're interested in and you're interested in studying in the United States look to the website of that university get a better understanding of what the university does in the area of sports in general some universities focus a lot more in sports than other universities whether you have a disability or not but I have a friend from Finland who studied at the University of Illinois she got her PhD in nutrition and one of the reasons she chose to go to that university in addition to the fact that it had a doctorate in nutrition was the fact that they had a women's wheelchair basketball team and she very much wanted to be a part of a women's wheelchair basketball team so there are a lot of stories and Diego and I will talk afterwards about this issue at American University it's the first time I heard about it so Grace from Taiwan hi Grace would like to know what kinds of support services on campuses are offered for students with muscular dystrophy who would like to start? I can start well I think it speaks to the broader kind of accommodations that is given to a student I mean when I first came I have a CPE which mainly affects my mortar skills and so the process was I went to the academic support and access center or the disability support service office and I provided documentation on my disability so that I could be part of the system and I told them specifically what I needed so I needed classrooms to be close to each other I needed also classrooms all to be on the first floor I needed my dorm room to be on the first floor as well so it's really about knowing the needs that you have and feeling comfortable with expressing those needs and if you don't exactly know what you want keeping the communication open or what you need keeping the communication open with that office so if a situation arises you have the resources to advocate for the specific needs you have and I'd also like to say that so the label of your disability in this case muscular dystrophy is not really very relevant to the discussion what is relevant to the discussion is as Diego was saying having an understanding of what types of accommodations you may need so may you need someone to be a no-taker in your classroom if you're unable to write independently you might need extended class extended time for tests and one of the issues that Diego raised in Monica you may want to jump in on this too or Seth is the issue of how students can be determined eligible for certain types of services who are coming from other countries and have disabilities Monica would you like to start with that we're having difficulty hearing Monica can you hear me now now we can hear you okay great yeah just like Diego mentioned it's really important to bring your documentation and have that conversation with your disability office based on what your needs are all people with muscular dystrophy are not going to have the same needs so it's important to look and realize what accommodations you're receiving in your home country and then understand what services you receive at the campus and then also some offices you know if the documentation is not clear sometimes the disability office just want to sit with you and interview and understand one-on-one what your needs are Seth yeah one thing disclosing your disability is optional if you want to get disability support services you need to register with the disability office and provide documentation from your doctor or a clinician to set up your disability status and then the disability office can determine which service that you're eligible for also I wanted to add more and more disability offices are really going above and beyond the minimum requirements and they're providing writing support they're providing career services to ensure that you have a great learning experience and help with the transition to the working world even scholarships too the other thing I think is important is look at the universities you're interested in you can contact the service disability services office and ask for example what types of documentation do you require in order for me to be determined eligible for services so that when you come to the United States you work most of that out and in most cases I think that's an ideal situation additionally I think it's important to realize that while we're focusing on universities today also learning about the types of organizations that exist in the community where your university will be is very important some communities have some very good services for example if you're blind organizations for the blind which could potentially provide you with services to support your learning how to get around the community and things of that nature our next question Juan Pablo from Columbia wants to know what support services are available for students with disabilities specifically he wants to know about support for activities of daily living like housing, dining, transportation and health services so Monica can you respond now yes sorry there were some difficulties so I'm speaking through my phone that's more clear but yes the universities have multiple student support services such as health center disability office you will have access to accessible housing transportation and so all those will be accessible for the students and just like you mentioned Judy you want to do some research on the location you know what is the weather like what is the community what is public transportation like within the community how close to campus will you be living so all these will be factors that you want to take into consideration based on your needs and the disability that you have and then speak you know that there's tutoring centers the writing labs you have assistive technology labs within the disability office and so just connecting with the university that you're accepted to or researching the ones that you're applying to it is important to look at all those services that are offered thank you Seth yeah we also have a health insurance program for international students and a counseling center to help with the transition there's different types of services for international students it's not limited just to students with disabilities oh true hello Juan Pablo yeah so I think I mean it has mostly been such a fun but I would also encourage you if you see that the university isn't able to provide for some reason or it hasn't been requested before don't be afraid to be the first one to advocate for it and look to the community outside of the university where you're living to meet other people that are in similar situations and they can give you some guidance and support on something that you might need that the university might not be accustomed to before so services like sign language interpreting services as we've been discussing reader services various forms of technology to enable you to access your materials to access testing to access performance in the classroom to access participation in extracurricular activities can provide a variety of support services for that for individuals who may need personal assistance services such as getting up in the morning, going to the bathroom, going to bed at night those services are typically not provided for by the university and that is something that people need to look at as far as whether or not they would be hiring someone here in the US to help them with those services or other opportunities. An online viewer wants to know if there is a special admissions process for students with disabilities for example, is there a certain quota for disabled students the answer is no there is no quota for disabled students and is there a special admissions process, Monica do you want to answer that? Yeah there are no special admissions processes whenever you are applying to the university you do not have to disclose your disability until you are admitted and that is up to you at that point if you want to disclose your disability if you are writing a statement of purpose for instance and you should feel empowered to do so if that is part of your story and what you want that is important for you for your application and your statement for entrance exams like the TOEFL or GRE there are accommodations that can be made of course so that you can take it in an alt-format and set to be processed in a couple of months but you are still required to take the English exam for English proficiency and GRE but again those testing centers do have proper accommodations to support you with that testing process which is required for the application process So following up for a minute on what Monica is saying these are legal rights that you have as a person applying to a university in the United States accommodations if you need them and can verify that you need them for the TOEFL the LSAT, the GRE the LSAT whatever the particular exam may be I encourage you to make contact with these entities as soon as possible and possibly working with USA Education as you are doing that there may be some glitches where depending on the office people may not be aware of what their obligations are but you need to know that if you have got appropriate documentation that demonstrates that you need these accommodations they are legally required to do so so be aware of that and then Diego we have an online viewer who wants to know and we thought you might have some experience in this area Monica you also is it possible for people with disabilities to stay in the US to work after graduation Diego what were your experiences yeah so my experience is a little unusual because I was actually born in the US my parents were shopping and they were shopping in New Orleans and they were supposed to stay for 3 days and they ended up staying for 3 months because I was born prematurely so my experience is a little bit different because I automatically have US citizenship because I was born in the States even though I grew up my whole life in Mexico but I have a few friends that are in a similar situation where they're not US citizens and actually what I think is interesting is that they became entrepreneurs and they started their own organization and they started their own programs and through that they were able to sponsor their own visa to stay so that's an alternative if you're really passionate about what you're doing even if you're really driven by the work that you're doing and you can prove that you're doing unique work that no one else is able to do you're able to sponsor a visa to work here but I also think Steph yeah so we have one deaf student from Saudi Arabia who graduated 4 years ago and is currently working at the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington DC so you are allowed to stay in the United States after you complete your university study with a specific type of visa and I'm wondering Monica can you speak about that at all yeah luckily that was my job before with immigration processing but if you enter the country on a student visa if it's F1 or J1 then you do have opportunities during your program to gain work experience with internships for instance and then you also have opportunities to stay in the country on your student visa if it's for another year and gain work experience in your field of study so think about those during your program and before you arrive what is your professional goals and start making those contacts and connections with those organizations and have those opportunities during your program as well as after you graduate yeah and I think you know if you apply and if you're accepted and you come to the United States to study as we've all been discussing make sure to stay in touch with people on campus who are knowledgeable about these types of visa issues and again you know the U.S. is looking for bright committed foreign students to come who can benefit from the education they're receiving here but then we'll also be able in most cases to go home and really take what you've learned especially both in your field of study but for those of you with disabilities we hope also what it's like to live in the U.S. and how U.S. laws have been being implemented so that you can become champions when you return home Eugenio from Venezuela has a question for Seth what about students who are deaf and have struggles with the English request for admission yeah to get into college or universities in the U.S. you have to meet the criteria the admissions criteria and there are many universities and colleges around the U.S. that provide preparatory coursework before actually entering but you need to meet the admissions requirements before you're able to get in Monica would you like to speak to this yeah just like Seth mentioned it is a if there's any challenges based on the exam itself then many students do come in for English preparatory academic English preparatory programs before they start their academic programs they're really looking at what the challenges are is there something going on with the accommodations or the testing service or receiving the accommodations from the testing service you know what are those challenges and learning English or having access to learning English in your home country then look at opportunities to come to the U.S. there are English programs here that can immerse yourself in a language so then you can gain it quickly to then get admission to a university and questions like this don't have a yes or no answer so as Monica was saying there can be many different reasons I think you know one of the main points is when you study in the United States basically your classes will be offered in English and you will be required to do your exams and your papers in English so the ability to be able to communicate in English is very important in the event that taking a test is difficult because of your disability then I think again universities are dealing with some of these issues on a case-by-case basis but I think the bottom line is if you're having difficulty with English do what you can to try to take classes either online or here in the United States go to your embassy if you're nearby or counsel it to the American Corners to get information on how you could study English more but English is the predominant language that you'll be required to utilize in school Are there any exchange programs that I can do as a student that is not restricted by my disability? Do you have any examples? Could I apply for the Fulbright or any other educational and cultural programs? Monica would you like to start with that? Yes some of the programs just as Fulbright these scholarships are funded by the Department of State of Educational Cultural Affairs and just as Judy mentioned it's really important that people with disabilities know that they have access and are encouraged to apply for these programs my use of with who I am with and those exchange programs will work together to provide accommodations we will work with the exchange program that you're communicating with and if they need any assistance for the accommodations then we will work together with both of you there's Fulbright for instance there's UGRAB the Community College Initiative Program there's many programs that you can learn about through our website as well as Education USA offices so again no students are discriminated from any programs in the United States if it's an exchange program or an academic degree program and if there's one thing that you take away from this program today there are no quotas on disabilities and there are no groups of people with a certain type of disability that are excluded from participating in programs there may be scholarships that are offered to people with certain types of disabilities but as far as admission to Fulbright or university programs or anything else in the U.S. no there is no discrimination that's legally allowed based on your disability the next online viewer wants to know can I get a driver's license in the U.S. even if I have a disability what is transportation like at the universities in the U.S. this is another question which has multiple answers we're a very big country with many different types of transportation Seth would you like to speak at all about possible transportation at FGW yeah as a deaf person and a U.S. citizen I drive, we're allowed to drive in the U.S. when I go to other countries, Canada, Australia the Caribbean I can drive as well and in Washington D.C. Gallaudet University George Washington University are here so there's a lot of public transportation there's the metro system there's the buses, taxis many different options well I don't know how much I can elaborate speaking from my own personal experience I use the shuttle to get to campus and is the shuttle wheelchair accessible yes that's what I was going to say the shuttle is fully wheelchair accessible and in the case and this is actually really good so American University is in the city of D.C. and so sometimes when I lived off campus sometimes there was snow and there was it was hard to get to my my building so I was able to call public safety and tell them that I needed to get home safely and they were able to accommodate for that so they actually brought a car and drove me to where I needed to be so it's pretty accommodating mostly I used the shuttle but in case the shuttle wasn't in case the wheelchair lift was broken or in case there was weather issues I was able to call public transportation public safety and arrange alternative transportation let me please also reiterate the point that Seth made in some countries around the world disabled people are not allowed to get driver's licenses this is something which is not legal in the United States if you meet the qualifications and you're able to pass the test to be a driver you are allowed to drive you are allowed to drive if you need things like hand controls or other kinds of accommodations in the vehicle this is another issue that if you come to the states and study you could learn about in order to be able to address some in your country and other countries on the issue of transportation in general again it's really important look at the college and university that you're going to be applying to some schools are very small so I went to a university in Brooklyn, New York called Long Island University the campus I went to was one square block I didn't need any transportation to get around because it was a very small campus but then I went to Berkeley you see Berkeley in California which is a huge university and now the university has accessible transportation as do many of the large universities around the United States and the transportation is required to be accessible so that you can in fact get across the campus if you're unable to do it on your own if the weather is bad or you're unable to walk that far whatever it may be then depending on where you are there may be public transportation so in the larger cities in the United States like Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles in Texas, Georgia many other areas there is public transportation public buses, train systems the newer train systems are accessible the older train systems like in New York are less accessible with some accessibility but all of the buses in the cities and communities around the United States are accessible and more and more taxicabs are becoming accessible next question is how are students with disabilities treated differently in the classroom for example do professors use different teaching methods for certain students depending on their needs who would like to go first on that well no students with disabilities are not treated differently they're treated equally and disability support services plays a big role in that making sure that students get the services they need note takers even for online education we have a very big university it's very proactive with their approach making sure that materials, course materials are already accessible for example students that use screen readers who are blind can follow the course materials using JAWS software or voiceover software they should be treated equally so if a student for example is deaf and there's going to be a sign language interpreter in the classroom will the teacher be informed will the student be encouraged to let the teacher know that there will be a sign language interpreter or other kinds of accommodations in the classroom yeah disability support services sends a letter to the professors letting them know that the student has a disability and will be using an interpreter for a deaf student perhaps so everyone's on the same page Monica do you want to weigh in on this one yeah I agree with them Steph with our information as well is that the disability office will inform the faculty members if there's accommodations that will be happening in the classroom but confidentiality is also very important so they don't know all the details but if they're seeing an interpreter in the classroom and any other types of accommodations being made then they'll just be aware of it but they won't see the paperwork they won't know all the details and that's confidential with the disability office so let me just say as the oldest person in this room today I'm 67 years old when I went to the university in New York there were no laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act or a law that we have called section 504 which actually has required universities to be accessible since 1973 so in the 1960s when I went to school if a faculty member said they didn't want a student in the classroom because of their disability there was really no one there who could argue on your behalf today a faculty member could not preclude you from any class that you're required to take or are interested in taking based on your disability I think again I really want to emphasize those particular points no quota systems disabled individuals have to meet the qualifications to attend the university there's not restrictions based on the kind of disability that you have can you tell us about online learning options for students with disabilities and I presume in part we're looking at the issues of accessibility for online courses who would like to start I took several online courses when I was in school and I think the same principles as any regular class would apply universities have to make sure that the material for a class is accessible and the benefit of online is that it's much easier and most of the times it's already accessible you don't have to advocate for that so I took several online classes that were really accessible to my knowledge and it was great I didn't see any distinction between online classes versus in-person classes in terms of accessibility I agree with Diego more and more universities are recognizing that online education is a really fast growing area all over the country and if you're deaf or hard of hearing we'll provide an online course and if you're blind or low vision you can use a screen reader software and we'll make sure that the course materials are fully accessible not only that but the web platform as well Monica just to add more about English learning as Diego mentioned it once the students are here physically on campus but I also just want to mention English classes online is available online for students who are blind or deaf or hard of hearing and it's important to access those before you come to the U.S. so you do have all the other opportunities too so feel free to contact our office if you cannot find those resources but they are out there so I do encourage students to continue learning English to have more opportunities here in the United States I'm going to read a question the whole question comes up Naimo of Tajikistan writes I am a mind survivor and lost my leg when I was 12 years old I only received $20 a month from the government and the rest the test is $170 all colleges require that I take the TOEFL exam but I can't afford it is there any support for that Monica hi there is communication with universities I am not aware of any waivers right now for the fee but it is important to contact schools that you are interested to see individually if some schools can waive a fee or not and then even contact ETS who administers the TOEFL exam to see if there is any other possibility to measure English outside of TOEFL if they have any in-house exam or anything like that or if you can come to the U.S. and enroll in an English program for a semester sometimes they allow you to take their their exit exam at the end of the semester to measure it in-house to see where your English level is at and so then they can continue giving those scores to different universities close by to them and maybe they have a partnership so don't give up there could be other opportunities if I could mention to come here for a semester and take English to have that done in a different way may I also suggest that you speak to the U.S.A. education office speak to someone at the American Corners some of the embassies have programs that you potentially can be accepted into and they are not large programs but if you are accepted into some of these programs they can help cover your costs for things like TOEFL and your application fees for universities as I said they are not a lot of them but there are some of them so check with the embassy our final question it's amazing the time has gone by so quickly Diego how did you successfully land an internship in the United States yeah that's a really good question I was successful at landing an internship because I was doing good work and I was doing advocacy work and I was able to show kind of results for that and that led me to good opportunities to network so I was able to network with a couple of people and tell them why I really wanted that internship my biggest internship I actually knew the person who was leading it before the internship was posted so I expressed my strong interest to it before and I got it and I was the only undergrad in that class to get that internship so I would say do good work and don't be afraid to network with other people that will help you get the internship that you want Monica any quick glass words no I agree stay focused on what your goals are don't let your disability be a barrier and just stay focused make contacts here in the United States in your community to have support and as Diego you'll be successful Beth do you have any final words yeah more and more universities now are recognizing that university-wide accessibility initiatives are often beneficial to everyone not just students with disabilities captioning is a great example of that our recent graduates last May we had captioning on a large screen our commencement so people really appreciated that so I'd like to thank you all very much for participating with us today I'd also suggest that you speak to your embassies about alumni programs so that you could potentially speak to students from your country that did study in the United States whether they had a disability or not to get some of these questions asked to some of your colleagues who could give you some additional information I'd like to thank you all and conclude by saying there are many wonderful changes that are going on in the United States that can really help you both academically learn and learn about what disability rights are all about we encourage you to apply to schools in the United States and welcome you here thank you very much