IN MARCH NINE DELEGATES from Zambia traveled to the Twin Cities for an intensive two-week training program in disability advocacy and support. Together they learned local best practices in advocacy, policies, and services for those with disabilities through a series of seminars and on-site visits. Program content was modeled on the college’s certificate in disability policy and services.

Amy Hewitt from ICI visited a school in Zambia as part of an ongoing
exchange with the disability-support community.

Amy Hewitt, training and project director within the Institute on Community Integration (ICI), which cosponsored the visit, and disabilities advocate Sandy Beddor first visited Zambia in January to identify partners for the Twin Cities and Zambia Disability Connection, as the collaboration is called. They brought together a team of individuals from across the country, among them a parent advocate, a government official, and several religious workers.

Two members of the Zambian delegation enjoy their
first snow.

Participants were impressed by how well people with disabilities are integrated into American society. “The choices given to people with disabilities to do what they can to contribute to their communities is wonderful,” noted one delegate. In Zambia, disabilities are often seen as the result of curses or bad fortune.

The Twin Cities and Zambia Disability Connection continued this August when two delegation members and several ICI staff members traveled to South Africa for the Thirteenth World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities.

The Twin Cities team then went to Zambia for 10 days to conduct further inclusiveness training, working with local educators, families, and religious workers.

For more information about the project visit Twin Cities Zambia Disability Connection. The ongoing exchange is cosponsored by Arc Greater Twin Cities, Fraser, Opportunity Partners, and St. David’s Child Development and Family Services.

PHOTOS: Amy Hewitt