Blog

Published December 23, 2015

UNAGB is the United Nations Association of Greater Boston, and its official mission is to build a strong network of global citizens in the Boston area.

Published November 28, 2015

Horrific terrorist attacks on November 13th in Paris shook people across the globe, and in Boston many of us were reminded of the 2013 Marathon attacks.

Published November 24, 2015

David D'Angelo and his team founded an organization that is designed to alleviate energy poverty by providing low-cost, sustainable, clean electricity to villagers across Nepal.

Published November 19, 2015

A field trip constitutes the foundational platform on which we have got to base further actions and strategies to modify current situations.

Published October 4, 2015

Last month, Abraham Path Initiative was chosen as our featured organization of the month. The BNID staff had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Cully Lundgren, Development Director of Abraham Path Initiative to get an inside scoop of the organization and his advice for development professionals.

Published September 29, 2015

We had the opportunity to visit the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University, and speak with its Executive Director, Marcela Escobari, about the center’s mission and her career advice for anyone interested in development.

Published September 24, 2015

Oftentimes we think of development as a space for graduate practitioners or professionals with years of experience. But what about youth?

Published September 9, 2015

In celebration of International Women’s Day and in honor of Women’s History month, we’d like to introduce to you two amazing women currently working within the field of international development: Sarah Thomas and Sarah Young.

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