{"id":8587,"date":"2012-12-11T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/?p=8587"},"modified":"2016-03-29T03:04:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T07:04:49","slug":"higher-education-for-people-with-disabilities-changes-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/2012\/12\/11\/higher-education-for-people-with-disabilities-changes-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Higher Education for People With Disabilities Changes the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"3f74a-mr7_wendy2binterview\"<\/div>\n
\n

After I started my research in Syracuse, I have become much more interested in education. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Minnesota, I had an opportunity to interview an interesting person, Dr. Wendy Harbour who was a professor at Syracuse University, and now working for Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have exchanged emails couple times to adjust schedule and send my question list before we actually met. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, I was little confused when she showed up the lobby at hotel where we were planning to meet up because she started greeting to another lady who I didn\u2019t know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you know I\u2019m Deaf?\u201d Wendy said to me with a big smile.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOH! I didn\u2019t know!\u201d I replied. I was surprised in a good way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, she is my interpreter.\u201d Wendy continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the first time, I experienced to talk with a deaf person through an interpreter. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although my English is not perfect, the interpreter translated perfectly and we could communicate very well like we knew each other for ages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"939cd-wendy2b1\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n

Wendy started having difficulties at hearing when she was a high school student. <\/span><\/p>\n

The high school she attended to was private and 100% of students went to college after graduation. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, the school told her that \u201cif you don’t want to go to college, it is okay.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

She was very surprised by the teacher\u2019s sudden change of expectation of her due to her hard of hearing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite of the words, she entered the college and fortunately her friends were very supportive. <\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, however, the college wouldn’t pay for interpreters which she needed to study in classroom. <\/span><\/p>\n

It made her very upset and feel betrayed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the situation, she transferred to University of Minnesota which has incredibly great support for students with disabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

I\u00a0realized some\u00a0disability centers are good, but some are not. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0doesn\u2019t matter if a college is good or not. <\/span><\/p>\n

You could have a good\u00a0college with good disability services. <\/span><\/p>\n

But you also could have a good\u00a0college with bad disability services. <\/span><\/p>\n

That can make all differences to a student.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wendy said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"c6a0a-wendy2b2\"<\/div>\n
\n

During her college life, Wendy was involved with a deaf community and met people who were driving\u00a0 and had children which she almost gave up after she became hard of hearing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also she realized that disabled people sometimes felt like that the disability was a part of who they are and it is not a sad or tragic thing either.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

She even went to get her doctorate at Harvard University and studied universal design, disability studies, higher education, and special education. <\/span><\/p>\n

As everyone knows, Harvard University is the one of the best schools in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, people said that Wendy could get job offers soon even if she only applied for 5 jobs before she left Harvard University.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"533b8-wendy2b3\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

However, eventually she applied for 65 jobs before she got the first offer from Syracuse University. <\/span><\/p>\n

She applied not only for jobs at universities, but also for the ones at companies and federal government, everywhere. <\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone at her class applied for 4 or 5 jobs and all got a job right away. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was obviously discrimination because she was involved with the same things they were, and had all work experience too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

People just\u00a0kept thinking how\u00a0expensive I was because I would have to have an interpreter. <\/span><\/p>\n

They didn’t see that it would be worth it. <\/span><\/p>\n

I could bring other things even if I cost money or whatever. <\/span><\/p>\n

They\u00a0don\u2019t think that way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wendy said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"65d88-mr7_wendy_interview2b2\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n

As a professional of education, Wendy mentioned,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The problem is almost everybody in the US thinks that they are doing inclusive education. <\/span><\/p>\n

But some schools consider inclusive education just related to differences of\u00a0 race, and send kids with disabilities into limited classrooms or separated schools, and they are proud how\u00a0inclusive they are. <\/span><\/p>\n

But actually that is is not inclusive education.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the US, going to college and getting a degree is one of the most important things because it will open up doors to jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n

But people with disabilities, we would face terrible discriminations when we try to get a job. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is hard because I tell students that the college degree will help, but it can\u2019t guarantee a job. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, still, I don\u2019t want them to give up pursuing their dreams because of disabilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are many people who made great careers even with disabilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

And those people changed the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

I really hope more people with disabilities go to higher education and learn more and figure who they are. <\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that the college students are usually the ones who were leading all the real revolution. <\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to help create the next Ed Roberts or Judith Heumann\u00a0or next revolutionary in disability too.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After I started my research in Syracuse, I have become much more interested in education. In Minnesota, I had an opportunity to interview an interesting person, Dr. Wendy Harbour who was a professor at Syracuse University, and now working for Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,136,135],"tags":[100],"class_list":["post-8587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocate","category-education","category-research","tag-higher-education"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8588,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8587\/revisions\/8588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonrider7.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}