Blog

Published September 4, 2015

Development is a complicated field. It can often require one to travel abroad, work in

local and international organizations, or advocate for human rights.

Kerry Thompson has had her fair of challenges. However, she has been able to ultimately

thrive and excel in her career in development and disability rights. Why has Thompson

been so successful? And what can we learn about her story?

Thompson’s story begins in Louisiana, outside a small town in New Orleans. Thompson

grew up with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes deaf blindness.

Growing up for Thompson was overcame many obstacles. Her ability to surpass difficult

moments in her career is what today has allowed her to develop a very successful and

thriving career. She is an advocate, a fellow, serving as the Information and Program

Coordinator of the Disability Rights Fund (from our 1/31/2015 blog post) as well as a

fellow for the Marshall Memorial Fellowship.

Thompson is a graduate of both Louisiana State University and Harvard University.

Majoring in English and Psychology for her undergrad, and Human Development for her

graduate degree in Cambridge, Thompson was provided with great accommodations at

both universities. However, this is not always the case. Her university accommodations

included sign language interpreters, note takers, and CART (captioning in real time).

These accommodations allowed her to move forward with her career and also brought

her overseas.

Kerry’s experiences abroad

In 2000, through LSU, Thompson decided to study abroad. She studied in London,

England in Goldsmith College. In 2005, Kerry also traveled to France, along with10

other deaf Americans. According to Thompson, “it’s good to know foreign languages,”

and particularly sign language. She shared with us, she has knowledge in American Sign

Language, Signed Exact English, French Sign Language and as well as some British,

Colombian, and Ugandan Sign Language. When recalling her most defining experience

abroad, she recalls her spring-break trips to Mexico where she worked at orphanages.

“That was my first experience with another country, and especially a developing country.

All of the experiences I have mentioned have definitely been integral to helping me in

my work at DRF,” she says. These experiences have given her respect for different

culture and backgrounds, and “respect for different abilities in all part of society.”

Marshal Memorial Fellowship 2014

Most recently, Thompson has traveled to Serbia, Spain, Germany, and Belgium. Selected

for the 2014 Marshall Memorial Fellowship. She is the first fellow to be deafblind since

inception to be chosen. The fellowship has allowed her to be part of “transatlantic

dialogue between the US and Europe.” Her role has been in connecting disability to local

issues.

Aside from policy, Thompson has engaged in social enterprise, developing a program

called Silent Rhythms as well as an application called Text 4 Deaf. These programs were

made for deafblind communities to better engage in understanding music and feeling and

bridging communication gaps. Text 4 Deaf was a communication tool to bridge the

communications gap. “It was an opportunity for hearing people to send a text message

from a computer to a deaf individual’s cell phone.”

As we can see, Kerry Thompson is really a “jill of all trades.” Her journey in

international development is unique. From Louisiana to Boston, Thompson has a thrilling

career ahead of her working daily at the Disability Rights Fund. Social entrepreneur,

disability rights advocate, and Marshall Memorial Fellow. Kerry’s story is unique,

inspiring, and truly goes to show that there are no barriers to development.

Published August 31, 2015

Bridging Communities in Development with Kerry Thompson and the Disability Rights Fund

Published August 24, 2015

Last Mile Health is a Boston-based organization that creates a new workforce to save lives in Liberia’s most remote villages through the recruitment, training and equipping of community health workers.

Published August 20, 2015

International development is an exciting, thrilling, and unique field. The opportunity to work abroad, immerse in new cultures, and foster new relationships is in part one of the reasons why so many succumb to it. But how do we get there? How can we become successful development practicioners?

This Tuesday, BNID had the opportunity to sit and speak with OLE (Open Learning and Exchange) Executive Director, Richard Rowe who provided his personal insight on the field as well as his experiences that led him to initiate OLE.

Founder and CEO of OLE, Richard Rowe has worked in international development for an extended amount of time. Starting his career in psychology at UCLA as an undergraduate and then at Columbia University for his Ph.D, Rowe is not only an advocate of international development, but a psychologist understanding individual and group behavior. Speaking with Rowe, international development is a lot more than just initiating programs or donating laptops to a developing community, rather it’s more about human engagement.

According to Rowe, he got into international development, “by accident.” “It was a combination of my upbringing and chance. I am the son of a Methodist minister, very concerned about social justice as a family and I always wanted to do something that would benefit the world, that was part of my DNA since the very beginning. First it was medicine, then the ministry, and I kind of fell into education,” says Rowe.

Finishing up his Ph.D thesis on clinical psychology in Manhattan, he was granted an opportunity to go to the Virgin Islands both to work and to write his thesis. There, Rowe became the Director of the Test, Development, and Research office at the West African Examinations Council (WEAC), where he helped modernize the Educational Curriculum system of scholastic aptitude tests. Working and living abroad, that experience made him into an international cross cultural educational measurement specialist.

Moving forward, his career brought him to South Africa and Nigeria, where one is his first daughters was born. Following education, Richard later served as Associate Dean, and Director of the Doctoral Program of Clinical Psychology at the Harvard School of Education. Head of the 1 Laptop per Child Foundation as well, Rowe left shortly to create OLE.

Published August 18, 2015

An initiative to hold nation-states more accountable for their commitments to uphold global agreements, conventions, treaties and best practice standards.

Published August 18, 2015

Tell us a little bit about C2C’s role in healthcare and international development.

C2C is a global health non-profit organization that provides access to high-quality, sustainable primary healthcare to families in the developing world. It was founded by Elizabeth Sheehan, a physician's assistant who worked in the developing world for ten years, and saw a serious need for quality healthcare. After a five year partnership with our first clinic and a Port-au-Prince hospital following the earthquake, we opened our first cost-recovery clinic in Camp Coq, Haiti in 2013. We currently have two clinics in Haiti and one in Namibia.

Published August 14, 2015

What does it mean to be a global citizen? And how can a network of global citizens promote international development?

To find out, we talked to the Melton Foundation, the only global fellowship program that unites a network of more than 450 fellows to act as global citizens, addressing local and global challenges throughout their lives.

For the Melton Foundation, global citizenship is a way for individuals and organizations to work together across boundaries of place and identity to address global challenges.

Published August 11, 2015

There are many times when working in International development makes me love my life even more. It is not just about providing long lasting solutions to global problems but there are powerful moments of inspiration that recharge me everyday!

Published August 6, 2015

My favorite part about working at Gardens for Health in Rwanda is getting to witness firsthand the impact that our programs are having on communities and families. This Thanksgiving reminded me just how much we have to be grateful for. Nine months ago when I was in Rwanda, I met a mother named Venantie and her two-year-old son Imanirakoze...

Published August 6, 2015

People often ask me “Why did you become a nurse?” My answer is similar to nurses everywhere: I became a nurse because I wanted to help people, to make a difference in the lives of others, to change the world for the better.