U.S. Embassy helps disability activists’ visit to USA

The U.S. Embassy in Mongolia recently supported a group of
10 activists – seven of them physically disabled – belonging to the NGO Wind
Bird – to make an intense two-week visit to the USA to:

· discover how people with disabilities live, work
and study there;

· learn how U.S. federal, state and local
governments support people with disabilities;

· observe how the Americans with Disabilities’ Act
(ADA) works “in practice”;

· meet with U.S. NGOs that promote and protect the
rights of people with disabilities; and,

· learn how the media can be used as an
educational and promotional tool for people with disabilities.

Ms. Badamkhand, a
Mongolian journalist and the leader of the NGO, said she had been inspired to
organize this project after participating in an “English Camp for the
Disabled,” a 2009 program organized by the Mongolian-U.S. Government Alumni
Association.

After the group returned to Mongolia, U.S.
Ambassador Jonathan Addleton hosted a debriefing session at his
residence. The participants said this trip had changed their lives and
their perception of their own strengths, and that the greatest lesson they
learned was not to let their disabilities prevent them from doing more and
living life to the fullest. Several of them outlined their plans to
follow up on this experience — promoting English and computer education for
the disabled, improving rehabilitation and independent living services in
Mongolia, and advocating for a law such as the ADA to protect the rights of the
disabled.