Help & Hope for Disabled
of Other Cultures
by Terri Ricci
On August 3, 2005, Access
Press representatives attended a luncheon hosted by the University
of Minnesota’s Institute
on Community Integration (ICI). The luncheon was an opportunity for
community leaders and organizations to learn more about each other.
Three dynamic speakers shared their stories about family members
and/or the experiences they have had in the U.S. related to disabilities.
The first speaker, Antoinetta Giovanni, an immigrant from East Africa,
has a son with autism. She tells others within her culture not to
give up when fighting for the services that a child with disabilities
needs to be assimilated into life in America.
When her son was born,
she didn’t know what a disability was
or what autism was. She was in denial. As a single mother, where
do you start to look for services? The school did not want her son
and she was devastated, uncertain what to do. She was fortunate to
connect with Arc Hennepin/Carver and they helped her understand that
as a parent you have to educate yourself to get what your child needs.
Most immigrant communities
are very protective of their children. Antoinetta was fortunate
enough to hire someone from her cultural background to care for
her son. This alleviated her fears of not having someone she trusted
be alone with her son. Her son’s
condition has improved immensely since receiving services and advocated
for her son’s disability. When he was finally able to vocalize
the word “Mommy,” she was very proud. Although he was
unable to speak or verbalize any words up through the age of 7 or
8, at age 12, he can understand and verbalize some English. He even
seems to understand when she and his caregiver speak in their native
language.
Antoinetta achieved good support for her son, because she was willing
to advocate and push for the services he needed. Arc Hennepin/Carver
not only trained her to become to be an advocate, they also employed
Antoinetta to help educate and inform other parents that they too,
can be advocates for their children and get them the services they
need. She helps parents understand that it is okay to ask for help
for their disabled child. In America, and especially in Minnesota,
there are social service programs to help disabled children of different
cultures become independent and to live within society without barriers.
Because many of these social service programs can be confusing to
many with a language barrier, people like Antoinetta are invaluable
in their role as a go-between for the service provider, the parent,
and the person with a disability.
The second speaker to
share her experiences was Grace. Grace has had different experiences
in getting services for her two autistic sons, in part because
of the ages of her sons—one is 18 the
other is 26. When her boys were small, her husband divorced her because
he blamed her for their children having autism. She had to educate
herself and take courses to understand why her children had this
disability. She felt that she was being punished for having children
with autism. She had hurdles to overcome being from a different country
and trying to advocate for herself and her children. It was difficult,
because in her culture, vocalizing your needs is not appropriate.
PACER Center taught
her that the parents are not responsible for the disability that
their children have nor are they completely responsible for their
children’s care. She struggled to get her sons the
care and services they needed and often felt that she was being discriminated
against. Was it because she did not feel that she deserved these
services because of her belief that she should be punished because
her children have a disability? Or is there discrimination from the
social services programs where the employees feel that a person of
color is less deserving? It is really a tough dilemma for many immigrant
people with disabilities and these are some of the questions she
raised in her speech that immigrants deal with.
The last speaker, Del Bahtuoh, came to the United States from Liberia
when he was a teenager. Sometime after arriving in the U.S., he was
injured and became disabled. When he lived in Liberia he had no exposure
to or knowledge of any persons with a disability. After recovering
from a bullet wound injury, he went into Courage Center for rehabilitation.
Courage Center helped him learn about the resources he needed for
his care. They also assisted in creating his IEP to helping complete
his high school education and get enrolled into MCTC. After attending
MCTC for one year, he transferred into the University of Minnesota.
The Disability Services staff and the available resources at both
colleges have been a great asset to Del. Even the students helped
him in taking notes and the faculty allowed some flexibility with
him taking tests.
Del came to America
with only his father. When he became injured he was able to have
his mother come here to help take care of him. Because of a certain
CADI waiver, Del’s mother can work for
him and get paid for providing the services that Del needs.
Access Press plans to
continue working with ICI at the U of M and to maintain a dialogue
with immigrant families who have members with a disability. If
you would like to tell us your story, or if you can help us tap
into the immigrant communities to help educate and inform them
on how to advocate for the services they deserve and need, contact
us at 651-644-2133 or by e-mail at access@accesspress.org.
