Diversity Fellow Project, Julia Ganda
Perspectives on Disabilities among Congolese Refugees in Iowa
Perspectives on Disabilities among Congolese Refugees in Iowa (570 K) Download
Project Narrative
1. Please describe your activities during your Fellowship experience. Describe your final capstone project(s).
During my Fellowship experience, I worked on coursework and learned about the history of disabilities. I also did fieldwork and community development activities such as clinical observations visited a Child Health Specialty Clinic and worked with many other community partnerships. For my capstone project, I worked with Congolese Refugees in Iowa to learn more about the community’s perspectives on disabilities. I conducted interviews to collect qualitative data through a needs assessment on perspectives on disabilities, unmet needs, and barriers to care among Iowa’s Congolese community. I also transcribed and coded the transcripts from the interviews.
2. Who did your project inform, help, influence or impact? (UCEDD, individual, community, state) How?
The project helped bring community-based Congolese partnerships together with disability organizations to collaboratively identify strategies to engage and better understand Congolese people’s perspectives on disabilities to meet the needs of Iowa’s Congolese population with disabilities and provide more culturally responsive services for this specific population in the future.
3. Why did you choose to work on that project(s)?
Being Congolese myself, I chose to work on this project because I’ve seen a gap in people seeking out services or even discussing disabilities within my community. I wanted to work on this project because I truly wanted to know what people’s perspectives on disabilities were to educate the public and service providers on the barriers that are keeping this population from seeking out services. I also wanted to work on this project to possibly develop more culturally responsive services to bridge the gap of people not receiving services, through different initiatives.
4. What did you gain from being a Diversity Fellow?
I learned so much about the field of disabilities and my own community as a Diversity Fellow. I am so happy that I took a chance on this and applied for the fellowship because it has opened up so many doors for me and has allowed me to give back to my community. This project has allowed my community to have a voice and state their perspectives on this very important topic. I am also now a part of great community partnerships working with this specific community.
5. How will this experience impact your education or career decisions?
I am now an ILEND trainee so I will continue to learn more about the field of disability. I also hope to continue working on this project by sharing my findings with local schools, organizations/communities, and the different partners that I’ve been able to connect with through conducting this project.
6. What are your future goals? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
My main goal is to complete graduate school and obtain my licensure. For the future, I hope that I will be working with my community to educate and advocate for marginalized individuals/ communities to promote health and wellness among the community. I also hope to work on different efforts that reduce healthcare disparities that keep people away from seeking out services and healthcare as a whole. I see myself continuing to educate, learn, and serving my community because that is the reason why I went into the field of Social Work in the first place.
7. What recommendations do you have for other fellows?
I regret not engaging with the other fellows and utilizing the resources that are available to us as fellows due to lack of time, so I would recommend that you do so and try to make the time if possible. We are all going through this experience together and are learning together so there is value in everyone’s different skills and sharing their perspectives/field experiences. The zoom meetings were very beneficial and allowed us to share our progress and check-in, so definitely attend them. Overall, give it your all because this is a great opportunity to both learn and make a difference within the field and your career as a whole.