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Help for Handicapped—
Thailand is a Buddhist nation with a long tradition of respect—towards its elders, rulers, teachers, and monks. That deep respect, however, has not been traditionally extended to the nation’s disabled. In recent years, though, the situation is changing, thanks to a new constitution, efforts by disabled Thais to help themselves, and the support of a non-profit organization started by Randolph native Jim Tewksbury and his wife Sheryl. The organization that the Tewksburys launched in 2001 in northern Thailand has since gone global, with three "campuses" in Thailand and nine in Vermont. Global Campuses Foundation was formed to provide "advanced learning opportunities for marginalized populations worldwide, foremost people with disability," according to the non-profit’s vision statement. "Key to this mission," according to Sheryl Tewksbury, the non-profit’s director, is "honoring the voice" of the disabled. That means that that the disabled participants themselves determine what educational programs they need. In most cases, it is also the participants—who may be physically or developmentally disabled—who actually teach the classes. Two disabled people who have been key to the success of the Thai program—Kachakorn Thaveesri and Yutthaphon Damrongchuensakun—spent May and June in Vermont, staying with the Tewksburys in Randolph. Ka and Non, as they are called informally, are administrators of the Global Campus in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai. While here, Ka, a 39-year-old woman, and Non, a 31-year-old man, traveled to each of the nine programs in Vermont, to share information about their work in Thailand, and to learn, in turn, about the Vermont programs. In Vermont Global Campus programs in Vermont—in Bennington, Bradford, Hardwick, St. Johnsbury, Newport, Moretown, Windham, Randolph, and Windsor—are run via agreements with regional health service agencies, and serve mostly the developmentally disabled. The Randolph program operates in partnership with Upper Valley Services. Offerings vary from site to site, based on the interests and passions of participants. In Vermont, there are no "campuses," per se; classes are offered in town libraries, church basements, and the like. The programs in St. J, Hardwick, and Newport are the oldest in Vermont, established five years ago, and in that time they have offered more than 230 courses, workshops, and study groups, Tewksbury said. Examples include: How to get and keep a job, a percussion workshop, healthy cooking, and learning sign language. The success of the northern Vermont programs has led to birth of six more throughout the state. Started in Thailand Global Campus’s very first site was founded in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai seven years ago, when the Tewksburys, both retired professors, were there for volunteer service work. Sheryl Tewksbury, who had been a women’s issues professor, and her husband, Jim, who had taught disability studies, have lived outside of Vermont for most of their lives. (It’s no accident that Jim Tewksbury was drawn to disability studies. He is youngest son of Ella and the late Ellsworth Tewksbury, who for many years, ran a school for handicapped boys—The Steven Patrick Christian Manor—at the Mari Castle building on Randolph’s North Main Street. The residential home was named for one of Jim’s brothers, Steven Patrick, who is disabled; and the school was founded with the goal of education for the handicapped.) Since its founding in 2001, the Chiangmai program has grown, and campuses were established in two other Thai cities. All three serve—and are run by—people with physical disabilities. Vermont Visit During a break in their busy schedule of visitations in Vermont, earlier this summer, Thai visitors Ka and Non shared their stories in an interview at the Tewksbury home. Childhood polio left Ka partially paralyzed, and she walks with the help of a crutch. Non lost a leg after being severely burned as an infant, and has a prosthesis. According to Ka and Non, Thailand’s tradition of shutting away the disabled, or relegating them to low-skill jobs, is slowly changing. Ka noted that she was "lucky," in that she grew up in a supportive family, and was always told she could do anything she wanted. Schools were not accessible to the disabled—that has started to change—but Ka was fortunate in that her family was able to hire tutors for her. Non, from a very poor family, had a more difficult path. Although he now has a bachelor’s degree in administration, he was limited to vocational training and low-paying jobs when he was younger. Besides offering educational programs, the Chiangmai program focuses on improving services for the disabled, and lobbying on behalf of individuals whose "lives have stopped," Ka said. She described how she and five others—"everybody had a disability"—visited an 18-year-old woman who was left, daily, on the porch of the family home, while others went to work. That visit, Ka said "inspired" her family to let the woman, who had no wheelchair and could not walk, to join the campus program. "Now she goes to school in a wheelchair," Ka said. Their jobs have also led Ka and Non to do more than they ever dreamed they could. Chiangmai University now has a radio program for, and by, the disabled, and Non is finding a new interest as a radio personality. Recently, Ka and others were asked by university officials to lead classes for people without physical disabilities, who either teach about disability or work with the disabled. "We were very nervous—but the outcome was very good," Ka said. Sheryl Tewksbury noted that the recent site visit to Vermont by the Thai visitors was a resounding success. Although the programs in the two countries are different, in many ways, Vermonters and their two Thai visitors found inspiration and ways to learn from one another. These programs, Tewksbury said, show "the power of positive educational experience to be life-altering." |
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