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Let's get started. Just so you know, this webinar is being recorded.
And the recording will be available online later today, and so you'll have a chance to
listen to it again if you missed anything now.
I just want to say thank you so much for joining our webinar.
I expect a few more people will trickle into the webinar room as we go.
But let me just introduce myself. My name is Ashley from Mobility International
USA. I'm going to be discussing how people with
disabilities can find funding to come to the United States for international exchange.
And that's me. First I'd like to ask, for those who are in
the room already, where are you coming from? Which country do you live in?
Just type in the chat box, and we'll take a look and see where people come from.
I come from Eugene, Oregon, which is on the West Coast of the United States.
Just above California. That's where MIUSA is located.
Oh, excellent, we have someone from Canada, someone from Spain, someone from Russia.
That is wonderful. For those of you who are new to MIUSA, we
are a nonprofit organization, and we promote the rights of people with disabilities around
the world through international exchange. A lot of you will be familiar with MIUSA's
short term exchange programs, but we can also help answer questions that people with disabilities
have about doing international exchange programs through other organizations, too.
We are a free information resource, and we can share tips on how people with disabilities
can be included in international exchange. People with many different types of disabilities
from around the world can contact us, and they do contact us, with lots of questions,
and a very popular question is: How do I find financial aid and funding to do an exchange
in the United States? I just want to clarify, MIUSA does not provide
funding or any kind of scholarships, but we do share information on where you can find
funding from other sources. And that's what I'm going to be talking about
today. Our information service is sponsored by the
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and I'm going to be
talking a little bit more about them later. So on this slide, I ask: What will bring you
to the United States? And some of you might have seen this poll
when you entered the webinar room. It says, what do you want to do in the U.S.?
Study at a high school, study at a college or university, take an English or ESL course,
get professional experience, or something else?
And if you chose something else, feel free to explain in the chat window.
So these are all popular types of international exchange to come to the United States.
All right, I'll show you the results here so you can see.
Someone chose they want to study at a college or university.
That's very common. Someone said "other," so we might have to
wait and see what that person wants to do. But really, there are tons of options for
people with and without disabilities to come to the United States.
A lot of people wonder, but isn't it expensive? Many people do international exchange in order
to reach their educational or professional goals in a new country.
And then they'll later return to their home country with some new skills, and although
there are a lot of benefits of international exchange, the expenses related to it can be
overwhelming sometimes. It might include things like tuition and program
fees, health insurance, passports and visas. You have to find housing, air travel to get
to the United States and back home, as well as other expenses can really add up.
And also, some people with disabilities might require accommodations or services that sometimes
have costs associated with them. For example, wages for a personal care assistant
or other similar disability related accommodations. And although there are a lot of expenses,
people with disabilities do find ways to help cover them.
And this brings us to our first Funding Fact, which is:
Some international exchange programs include full or partial funding for costs like tuition,
housing, health insurance, and/or air fare. These are called sponsored programs or funded
programs. Sometimes people call them fellowships.
And there are a lot of institutions and organizations that offer these sponsored programs and fellowships.
You might have heard of things like Fulbright, which is through the U.S. Department of State.
This is the same institution that sponsors our project here at MIUSA that I mentioned
earlier. It also offers several sponsored exchange
opportunities for students of all levels, professionals, teachers, and others.
So what I was going to do, I'd like to share some examples of some sponsored programs and
if any of them interest you, I really encourage you to learn more about them and apply.
Just to clarify these programs are not through MIUSA but they're through an outside organization.
However, we really strongly encourage people with disabilities to learn more about sponsored
programs, and so hopefully that they will apply for them and participate in them.
Now, no one at the poll said they're interested in studying at a high school in the U.S. but
I just wanted to briefly mention that it is possible for high school students with disabilities
to come on exchange to the United States, and there are even scholarship programs that
help sponsor the costs for them. So if you know any young people in your country
who have disabilities, encourage them to think about applying for a school year in the United
States. Programs such as the Future Leaders Exchange,
the FLEX program, and the Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study, or the YES program, plus
the Youth Leadership Program and Rotary Youth Exchanges, they all include they all involve,
rather, living with an American host family and attending an American high school for
up to a year. And many students with and without disabilities
have done these programs, and have had life changing experiences abroad. I've included
a photo of one such student, who is deaf, who is also from Malaysia and participated
in the YES program. So she got to live with an American host family,
and go to a school for a whole year. Then she later returned to Malaysia.
So these scholarships include might cover costs related to round trip air fare from
the home country to the United States, plus sometimes health insurance, and includes the
placement with a U.S. host family and some other expenses.
However, not all expenses are covered. Participants are still responsible for things
like obtaining their own pass part or getting any required medical examinations, extra pocket
money, et cetera. Each of those programs has different eligibility
requirements, and such as which countries are eligible, ages.
Most of the programs are for students who are teenagers in their high school years.
So if any of these programs are interesting, just make sure to understand the eligibility
requirements. In addition, all of these programs specifically
encourage people with disabilities to apply, so although there are a lot of people who
don't have disabilities on these programs, they want more people with disabilities to
get involved, and that's where we hope that you will help with that.
So in addition to sponsored programs for high school students, there are also sponsored
programs for undergraduate students, as well. And one person did say they're interested
in studying at a college or university. That tends to be a very popular request that
we get at MIUSA, is [ Captioner disconnected ]
can help bring you to the U.S. for a year or even longer sometimes.
Two programs that you should check out include. This is a test of the captioning pod.
Testing the captioning pod. This is a test of the captioning pod.
Testing the captioning pod. This is a test of
the
caption pod. [ Captioner back online and captioning pod
working ] >> ASHLEY BRYANT: Looks like we're back online
with the captioning pod to we're going to go ahead and continue.
Thanks for letting me know. So we're going to continue with sponsored
programs for graduate students. Programs such as Fulbright which I mentioned
earlier offers a program for foreign students including graduate students, young professionals
and artists from all over the world to do research and study in the United States.
For one year or even longer at U.S. universities. Many people with and without disabilities
have participated in Fulbright, including Adriana who is pictured on this slide.
Adriana comes from Colombia and she's blind and she is a Fulbright student who is currently
in the United States, in Texas, in fact. Another graduate program that's funded is
the Edmund Muskie graduate fellowship program and this is for master's degree level study
for people from Eurasia, so that would probably include Russia and countries near there.
And it's available for study in the United States.
Another example is the Rotary Peace Fellowship. This is actually for two years of master's
level degree master's level study, rather, for people who are interested in peace studies,
conflict resolution and international relations. They have 7 centers where people can study
but only one of these is located in the United States.
So if you're interested in peace studies, consider a Rotary Fellowship.
That one covers tuition, fees, transportation, and many other expenses.
Again, both U.S. Department of State and Rotary encourage people with disabilities to apply
for these programs, so don't hesitate to get started in your research if you're thinking
that study in the U.S. is something that you want to do.
Not everyone is in school. Some people are working professionals.
They might be scholars or teachers, people working in different fields, and there are
many sponsored opportunities for professionals, as well.
Including the Humphrey Fellowship Program, which is 10 months of non degree graduate
level study in the United States for mid level professionals.
One example is Samson who's pictured here from Malawi, Samson has an amputated limb
and participated in the Humphrey Fellowship Program.
He's involved in civil society in his home country of Malawi, so he did a program in
California for 10 months to learn more about civil society and to improve his work back
home. Fulbright I mentioned earlier has programs
for graduate students, but it also has programs for visiting scholars.
And actually awards 850 grants to foreign scholars from over 100 countries to do post
doctoral research in the United States, so if anyone is at that level, make sure to check
that out. And we will also be conducting a webinar on
that topic later this month, as well, so if anyone is interested, please let me know and
I can share the link later on. Other examples of sponsored programs for professionals
that I wanted to share include the community solutions program.
This is a great professional development program for people who are working in things like
environmental issues, women's issues, conflict resolution.
And it places people from around the world at a local organization in the United States
where the participant does a fellowship, or an internship, and there they gain some leadership
skills, and that program includes visa support, round trip travel, health insurance, housing,
and more people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
And actually, I've included yet another participant with a disability, this is Angela who's pictured
from Peru. Angela is blind and is very interested in
making life better for people who are blind in Peru, so when she applied for the Community
Solutions program, they placed her at a U.S. organization that works with people who are
blind, so she was able to learn and then also to share her knowledge with them, as well.
Finally, Atlas service Corps, I just wanted to mention that really quick as well.
It's for people who are working in nonprofit around the world.
So it's a Fellowship Program that includes health insurance and training and a living
stipend for 12 to 18 months. So of these sponsored programs that I've mentioned,
do any of them stand out to you? Do any of them seem like something that you
might apply for? If so, if you want to learn about if you want
to learn more information about any of the sponsored programs that I mentioned, or if
you want to if maybe none of them sounded very interesting but you still want to find
something else, you will be able to find more information on these pages.
The U.S. Department of State exchanges website has a really helpful search engine, where
you can say which country you're from and what kind of exchange you want to do.
And it will tell you what kinds of programs, sponsored programs, you might be eligible
for. You can also contact the U.S. embassy in your
country. Most of the U.S. embassies have a website
with information about educational or professional exchange programs.
And then finally on MIUSA's website, we include a list of all of the fellowships and sponsored
programs that I just mentioned. And I will include those URLs in my e mail
later today so that you will have access to them.
So let's move on to Funding Fact Number 2. So that is U.S. based scholarships, employers
and financial aid offices may not discriminate on the basis of disability.
In fact, many scholarships and funded programs encourage people from diverse backgrounds
to apply, and this includes disability. So why do I mention this?
Well, it's because a lot of people ask, I have a disability, so what kinds of funding
can I apply for? And the answer is, well, you can really apply
for the same kind of funding that people without disabilities can apply for.
So we want to make sure that people are aware that disability is often thought of as part
of diversity, which is something that is very valued in America.
So it can sometimes help when you're applying for scholarships or programs.
The U.S. Department of State, which sponsors a lot of the programs that I mentioned earlier,
has a commitment to diversity, in fact. And their statement reads
"…The Bureau seeks and encourages the involvement of people from traditionally underrepresented
audiences in all its programs…Opportunities are open to people regardless of their disability
(physical or mental)…The Bureau is committed to fairness and inclusion."
So whether your disability is related to mobility or it's a hearing or vision disability, or
maybe it's a disability that people can't see, perhaps a learning disability or a mental
health related disability, it doesn't matter. If you're eligible in the other ways, then
you should still consider applying, in fact you should definitely consider applying, for
a sponsored program or other kinds of scholarships. Now, there are a few disability organizations
in the U.S. that offer scholarships specifically for students with disabilities.
I've listed a few examples here. 1800 wheelchair.com.
Alexander Graham Bell. Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and Spina
Bifida Association of America. But when searching for other organizations,
make sure to look at the eligibility very carefully and especially to check that non
U.S. citizens can apply. Sometimes although an organization might award
a scholarship for people with disabilities, it might sometimes be specific for Americans
with disabilities if you're asking an American organization.
But not always. So just make sure to check.
And again, don't limit yourself to applying for only disability scholarships.
You should apply for the same kinds of scholarships that people without disabilities apply for,
too. Here are a few examples.
Opportunity grants are small grants to support international students who might need financial
assistance to take the next steps towards study in the United States.
So these grants, they're actually not scholarships to help pay for your tuition in the United
States, but rather, they're to help pay for all the things, all the costs related just
to apply for a school in the United States. For example, you might have to take a placement
test for your English or for S.A.T.s or GRE scores.
To take those tests, usually has a fee, and so this opportunity grant can help pay for
that. Sometimes schools charge a fee just to apply
for the school, and you will also need to apply for a visa, which can also be costly.
So these opportunity grants are really helpful. Not all countries award opportunity grants,
but many do. The way to find out is to contact an EducationUSA
center in your country. These are centers that help provide information
about applying for study at a United States college or university, or sometimes even English
programs. And if that's something that you're thinking
about doing, then I would definitely encourage you to take the first step and check out EducationUSA.
They also offer several webinars on topics such as funding, how to choose a school, and
other topics. Next I listed the American Association of
University Women international fellowships. So besides disability specific scholarships,
think about what else makes you unique. So there are many scholarships for women.
There are scholarships for people from certain countries.
There are scholarships for people who want to study a certain field, like for example
geography or public health. So definitely branch out and get creative.
This international fellowship that I included here is for women who are full time graduate
students. Another scholarship for women is this Margaret
McNamara Memorial fund scholarship which is for women from developing countries.
Now, this one, you already have to be in the United States studying at an institution,
but that's another good point, is that even when you're in the U.S., maybe you've got
your scholarships, you've arrived in the United States, you're studying at a school, it's
always still a good idea to keep an eye out for other scholarships for unexpected expenses.
Now, scholarships and grants are not the only types of financial aid.
There are also loans. I've included an example called the Rowe Fund,
which provides private loans for people who are from Latin America, in order to study
in the United States. So if any of those sound interesting, you
can look them up and I'll show you how in just a moment.
But first I wanted to just remind you: A scholarship is money that you do not need to pay back.
It's a gift to be used towards tuition. It might be based on financial need, or it
might be based on merit, in other words, things like good grades, how involved you are in
activities, et cetera. A grant is also money that you do not need
to pay back. Sometimes scholarships and grants are words
that are used in place of each other, but they're similar.
Grants are based on financial need. A loan, however, is money that you must pay
back, usually after completing an academic program.
People receive loans based on their financial need.
So where should you go to search for financial aid?
EducationUSA advising center, which you remember just a moment ago, I explained, there are
centers all over the world. Sometimes there might be more than one center
in your country. www.educationUSA.info is where you want to go, and you'll be able to
search for centers in your country. They can provide information about financial
aid, scholarships, and more, and those opportunity grants that I mentioned, as well.
Also, make sure to think about any international organizations or clubs, private organizations,
that sometimes have chapters in different countries around the world.
These organizations include things like Kiwanis, the Lions Club, Rotary, which like I mentioned
earlier sponsors different kinds of exchange programs.
You can also contact the Ministry of Education in your country to find out if they award
any scholarships. Disability organizations in your country,
not all disability organizations award scholarships, but it's still a good place to try.
And then finally scholarships, you can search for scholarships using online search engines,
and there are many out there. It's helpful because you can search for scholarships
specifically for international students sometimes, or other criteria.
And we list many of those search engines on our website, which I've provided a link, and
I will share that in an e mail later on. So there is yet another excellent financial
aid resource for U.S. study that I haven't mentioned yet, and of course, the U.S. college
or university that you plan to attend can sometimes provide not just scholarships, but
many different types of institutional aid, which could include grants, scholarships,
loans, graduate teaching fellowships, work study and more.
Andy I've included a tip here, you can currently see which universities offer international
student aid. EducationUSA has a financial aid page which
is really helpful. If you were to click on that link which again
I will share later, you would be able to see a list of different colleges and universities,
and it would say how much money that a scholarship would award to an international student.
Now, if you don't see your favorable school on this list, it doesn't mean that that school
doesn't have any financial aid but you should visit the school's website and contact an
admissions counselor at that school to find out for sure.
Now I'm going to save some time for questions in just a bit.
But first I want to share about so once you've received scholarships or other kinds of financial
aid to help pay for things like tuition, student expenses or exchange participant expenses,
for people with disabilities, who require some services or technology or products, sometimes
those are associated with a cost, as well. So sometimes you'll need to ask yourself,
well, how will I be able to receive those services while I'm in the United States?
And if they have a cost related to them, who will help fund them?
So the first thing you should know is that U.S. programs must provide reasonable accommodations,
if needed. And these are by if needed I mean needed to
access things like classrooms, work spaces, site visits, housing or other aspects of the
program. What is a reasonable accommodation?
It might include things like sign language interpreters, converting print materials to
an electronic format or to braille. It could be wheelchair access into housing
or a work space or other place. However, some accommodations are considered
personal, and might be the responsibility of the participant such as personal care attendants,
wheelchairs, personal electronic equipment, et cetera.
Again the participant is usually responsible for these types of personal aids or services.
But if you have trouble with funding for those, then MIUSA might be able to make some suggestions,
as well. And it might be possible to negotiate with
your exchange program in some cases. Now, the trick is you should always request
disability related accommodations soon after you are accepted to the program or school.
You don't want to wait till the last minute, but there is a risk that by telling someone
what kinds of disability related accommodations you need, it's fine to ask, but legally they're
not allowed to discriminate someone based on any accommodations they will need.
It's usually best to wait until after you are accepted to the program to make your requests.
And sometimes there is a procedure that you will have to follow in order to receive them,
so make sure to follow it carefully. If you're planning to come to the United States
for study, it's helpful to know that most schools, colleges and universities in the
United States will provide disability related information and accommodations for students
at no charge. It's usually included in the tuition or student
fees. So there are no extra fees to receive disability
related services at school. However, if you're not coming to the United
States as a student, say you're coming on a professional program or you're doing another
kind of exchange program like an internship, then the program might not necessarily have
a disability related service center or office. And instead, you might need to find disability
related resources including counseling resources, in the host community.
These will usually be provided by an independent living center or a disability organization
in the host community. And we have more information about this on
MIUSA's web page. I've included a link here but I will also
paste that to your e mail, as well. So another good way to keep up with opportunities
for international exchange to the United States including funded opportunities and scholarships
and other exchange programs is to stay updated with MIUSA on its eNewsletter.
We send out a monthly eNewsletter. If you are on Facebook how many people are
on Facebook? "Like" us on our page, and we often post a
lot of scholarship announcements that we hear about from other organizations there.
Some people who are on Twitter can find us at @MobilityINTL and see the latest updates
there, as well. You can also visit us online, as many of you
probably visited our website. You'll see that we have a page on coming to
the United States, where you can learn about your disability related laws, services and
culture in the United States. You can find links to all the funding pages
that I mentioned. Plus you can read a bunch of stories about
people with disabilities who had an exchange experience in the United States.
Kind of like the people that I mentioned in this webinar.
And of course, you can always ask us questions. Our e mail address for asking questions is
clearinghouse@MIUSA.org. And I will type that in the chat box, as well.
So you can always e mail us with questions about participating in international exchange
with a disability. And it doesn't have to be a question about
scholarships or funding, although that's certainly find.
If you have a question about getting health insurance whale you're an exchange participant
or maybe you are deaf and require a sign language interpreter, how will that go?
We can share some information about that. So if you have any questions, don't hesitate
to get in touch with us. However, I'd like to open it up to questions
right now. We have about 15 minutes.
So if anyone has any questions please feel free to type in the chat box and I will do
my best to answer them. And while people are doing that, I will take
another look at the poll that people submitted as more people entered the webinar on what
they want to do in the United States. Looks like most people are interested in studying
at a college or university, or they have other plans.
And then one person wants to get professional experience, so that's really great.
And of course, we love to hear stories and share experiences from people with disabilities
who have come to the United States. They come from all over the world.
They have diverse disability types, and they each have very unique experiences, come from
different fields. Some are professionals.
Some are teachers. Some are students.
Some are artists. Looks like a few people are in the process
of asking a question. Let me know if you need me to repeat anything,
or if you need me to go back to a slide that you wanted to see again.
I'm going back and reading some of the other countries where people are from.
Someone is from Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Nigeria.
Thank you so much everyone for coming from all around the world to be in this webinar
today. Elena is asking, Ashley, you mentioned about
a webinar on Fulbright visiting scholar program, could you please share a link?
Yes, I will be happy to do that. This is going to be a webinar at the end of
the month. Fulbright will be producing the webinar, but
a representative from MIUSA will be guest presenting to explain how people with disabilities
should apply for the Fulbright visiting scholar program.
Let me take just a moment to find the link. Elena, just give me just a moment, and I will
paste that URL in the chat box a little later. Let me take a look at a few other questions.
Ogechi, I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, is asking: Is there any way of finding out
which universities are better at supporting students with learning disabilities?
Oh, that's a great question! Yes.
Well, you might be aware that all universities and colleges are a potential match for a student
with a disability, and can offer services or accommodations.
Some students might prefer colleges or schools that have more experience working with students
with learning disabilities and providing services for students with a specific disability.
Yeah, there is a way. One way might just be to I always find it
helpful to check out Google and ask what other people's opinions are.
However, there is a list that I remember seeing that had programs specifically designed for
students with learning disabilities. There's also a college in the United States
called Landmark, which is exclusively for students with learning disabilities.
So that might be something interesting to check out.
However, a lot of colleges and universities will offer a disability service program, as
well as an academic learning center, for example, that might provide tutors or assistive technology
to help students with learning disabilities follow along in class, or take notes, or be
organized. And I can definitely give you more information
about that, possibly through e mail. So please get in touch with me and I'd be
happy to share more. Okay, let's see, we have another question.
"I am a graduate student in political science. My research subject is the interaction between
the disability community and the U.S. Congress and I am planning to do some kind of a research
internship to collect my data." Oh, that's really interesting.
Yeah, many people with disabilities, like I said, they're interested in all types of
fields, including political science, social science, the arts the hard sciences, medicine,
languages, all kinds of fields. But however, there are some people with disabilities
who are interested in doing research or study about disability.
And some schools will offer programs related to that.
On one of the university and college search engines that I mention earlier there's sometimes
a way where you can search by major, determine if a school has the major that you want.
And so a good way that you can do that is to check out one of those search engines and
see if there is a disability studies major to choose from.
And that might turn up results for any institution that has disability related program.
Chris's first step would be to find an organization to receive you.
What would be the best strategy to find it? Oh, okay, I see.
So it sounds like Christ is looking to do a be placed at an organization related to
disability or maybe not even disability related. It could be any organization where he could
study disability. And you want to know how to find an organization.
That's a great question. On MIUSA's website, we have a database, and
I will enter the URL here. www.MIUSA.org/orgsearch.
And this is a database of disability organizations around the United States and around the world.
So one way if you're looking to placed at a disability organization might be to contact
a few of them that are in that database. Of course, not every organization will be
in that database. So another good way is to network through
you can learn about other disability organizations through MIUSA on our Facebook or eNews, or
Twitter. Twitter is a great way to network with disability
organizations. Keep in mind that if you do find an organization
where you want to work or do an internship or conduct your research, you might need to
have a visa in order to do that. So if you're already coming to the United
States as a graduate student, then that shouldn't be a problem.
But if you are coming solely to conduct research or to do an internship, you will need to check
with the organization to find out if they can sponsor your visa.
If they are unable to, then there are some third party programs that can help you obtain
a visa, for example, a J1 visa, in order to do an internship or professional position
such as that. And I can certainly help you by suggesting
some additional ways. So we have about 5 more minutes.
Are there any other questions? So, Christ and I will share a few more specific
links and pages with you that might be helpful. Oh, that's fantastic.
You're thinking about reaching out to organizations such as AAPD, UCP, which is United Cerebral
Palsy, or NCIL, which is the I mentioned independent living centers earlier. This is the national
network of independent living centers. What's really exciting is that there are disability
organizations who are becoming more interested in international exchange, and some of them
are hosting people with disabilities who come from other countries.
Let me go back to my first slide here, my title slide.
And I don't know if you can see the photo, but I have a photo here of a woman, her name
is Sephacor actually. She comes from Ghana.
She uses a wheelchair. And she came to the United States to study
for a graduate program, which also included a component to do an internship, kind of similar
to what Christ is talking about. And she conduct her internship at the Vermont
Center for Independent Living. You might be able to see that sign behind
her. So she was able to get involved in independent
living, in disability rights, right there in her host community in the United States.
And, in fact, did her internship there and really enjoyed it.
So that might be something that you could be interested in.
Here's the e mail that people can reach me at.
And again, there are many people working at MIUSA that can help answer questions: Michele,
Ashley, Olivia, Cerise. So someone will always be available to help
answer your questions. I'm really excited to see so many people from
around the world in this webinar today. Some of you must be up at a pretty strange
hour in your day, and I really appreciate that.
You might have more questions later, and that's fine.
Just direct them to us. And once again, this webinar is being recorded,
and I'll make sure that the recording is made available to you, as well as some of the URLs
to the links that I mentioned. Any other final questions?
Or comments? Anybody inspired to come to the United States
or international exchange? All right, well, stay in touch and keep us
updated during your process. There are many steps involved in doing an
international exchange. And we can definitely provide assistance or
advice along the way. I want to say thank you so much, everyone.
Looks like a couple people are typing, so I'll give them a chance, in case they have
a question. I hope this was helpful in showing you the
variety of opportunities in international exchange, and also the diversity of people
who participate in exchange. Diversity in countries, in fields, ages, and
also diversity in disability. Thank you again.