The Land Rover, in highest gear, kicked up dust as it darted further into the grassy plains of Kenya, escaping a herd of enraged elephants.

History senior Molly Conley was on her first MSU study abroad.

“We had to speed off from a charging African elephant - definitely one of the more adrenaline-inducing moments in my life,” she said.

In 1999, Conley was a zoology major, transitioning between her freshman and sophomore years at MSU. She chose the “Behavioral Ecology of African Mammals in Kenya” because it fulfilled some of her degree requirements.

Conley, who was diagnosed during high school with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - a neurological disorder most often characterized by a person’s inability to sustain attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity - is among a number of MSU students with mental or physical disabilities who study abroad.

Every year, students with physical or mental disabilities, who participate in MSU’s Study Abroad programs, face greater needs abroad, such as accessibility and academic accommodations.

A tape recorder helped Conley store lectures as well as to take notes for a journal. She also had a friend take notes for her so she had visual aids while abroad.

“It is great that Study Abroad is encouraging students with disabilities to participate,” Conley said. “Obviously there are limitations, but the center really tries to work as many of those out as far as they can.

“At some level there are some things that can’t be changed by the nature of the program.”

A partnership between the Office of Study Abroad and the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities began in 2000, when the President’s Advisory Committee on Disability Issues invited the office to discuss students with disabilities on MSU’s campus, paying special attention to their enrollments in study abroad programs.

“People here at MSU who have disabilities are just ordinary college students,” Conley said. “We simply have a different set of obstacles to work with than other students.”

Although Conley’s adventure was in 1999, it was proof that help from the resource center could improve the program for students with disabilities.

“It’s always kind of a compromise situation, and certainly it made it more difficult to complete the tasks, but it’s expected of you with the tasks so you have to do it anyway,” Conley said. “In Kenya, with that course, it wasn’t any more noticeable than in any of my other courses.”

MSU President M. Peter McPherson made it a goal to increase participation in MSU’s Study Abroad program, which is now the largest in the United States with more than 160 programs.

“Obviously, we want to have students study abroad but you don’t own a university abroad, so there are issues that we have to work through and that’s an ongoing process,” he said. “I want every student who can to take the opportunity to go abroad. There sometimes are additional issues with going abroad, but we try to work those out as much as possible.”

Val Nilson, an extension specialist at the resource center, said she hasn’t seen as many disabled students study abroad.

“Through the years, I can remember working with one or two here or there, but it’s never been very many,” she said. “It’s really a must-do thing in my mind. We have to move in this direction. It’s not going to happen over night but little by little, I think we are going to be able to accomplish it.”

Nilson said with the handful of students she has worked with, she has only come across a few problems.

“We have had a few students where they met up with the resistance with disability in another culture,” she said. “We want to prepare students for a different kind of reaction to a disability. It doesn’t mean they can’t go there, we just want to prepare them for that. Our country has a positive view of differences.”

But Nilson said students determined to travel aren’t bothered by the problems.

“I remember one student who uses a wheelchair and went to Spain, I didn’t know he was going until he came back,” she said. “But he said it went well, the only problem was that he lived in an inaccessible apartment and had to be carried up and down the stairs. I guess he put up with it because he was so excited to go abroad.”

Most accommodations are easy to make, Nilson said, because the students are prepared.

“Basically, it takes a person who is pretty adventurous to go to a place they know nothing about and have extensive needs,” she said. “We would like to get the word out to advisers and faculty as well to encourage students to participate.”

Cindy Chalou, assistant director of the Office of Study Abroad and liaison to the resource center, said it’s getting easier for students with disabilities to travel.

“Our first step was to put together the brochure and try to figure out how we can best assist students with disabilities,” she said. “We cannot always change the physical setup of our programs abroad. We want to be able to encourage students in a realistic manner.

“The important thing is planning far in advance. Advanced planning is absolutely critical.”

But there are some issues the office hasn’t dealt with yet.

Chalou said not many students with disabilities have participated in study abroad. Since the 1998 school year, at total of 5,098 MSU students have participated. Since many students do not mention their disabilities when applying for the program, the university is unable to keep a record of the number of students with disabilities who have studied abroad. Chalou said some students may think if they mention they have a disability, it would affect their acceptance into programs.

But that is not the case, she said.

“We’d like more than anything for more students with disabilities to feel comfortable in disclosing their disabilities in advance so we can assist them,” she said. “We can’t promise every site is going to accommodate every disability, but what we can promise is that we will assist students in every way we know.

“If a deaf student should choose to study abroad with American Sign Language, even if they are using sign language, different countries use different sign languages. And if a blind student uses a seeing-eye dog, what happens to that dog when you take it to Britain and it has to look to the right instead of the left when crossing the street?”

The Office of Study Abroad is able to accommodate students by allowing extra time during an exam or switching the location of classes because of building accessibility problems.

“The bottom line is to make it as enjoyable and fulfilling for them as possible,” Chalou said. “I would think Western Europe for students with mobility issues would be the easiest destination, but some assumptions we might have need to be corrected.”

In the United States, people with disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which ensures new buildings meet minimum standards for accessibility. That act doesn’t protect those abroad.

Chris Wisniewski, a telecommunication junior, is on ASMSU’s Academic Assembly as a representative for the Council for Students With Disabilities. ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.

“I’m on the assembly because I think that I should, along with other people in the same situation as I am, should fight for equality and accessibility,” he said.

Wisniewski uses a wheelchair. He has considered studying abroad, but money has kept him from applying.

“Financial constraints and possible restraints on the places I can go sort of dampens the possibility for my situation, but I certainly cannot speak for others,” he said. “It might not work out, but I could be wrong.”

Although disabled students are encouraged to study abroad by MSU, Wisniewski said he doesn’t think many know of the opportunities available to them.

“Disabled students need to look 10,000 times harder for opportunities than people who are able-bodied,” he said. “Although, I think (the resource center) might have some, but few opportunities.”

Diane Thomas, a service manager of AAA Travel Agency, 2829 E. Grand River Ave. in Lansing, said it can be difficult to accommodate a person with a physical disability in other countries because the same laws don’t always exist.

Thomas said the travel agency usually only works with students in finding railway or airline tickets, but usually is not asked to assist them in finding places to stay.

“Wheelchairs are easy to obtain on airplanes, but in some hotels they don’t have the same accessibility,” she said. “Most of the travel we do is basically with tour groups so the tour operators are the ones that deal with it and try to accommodate the travelers.”

Robert Kolt, spokesman for Lansing’s Capital City Airport, 4100 Capital City Blvd., said the airport operates under the Americans with Disabilities Act, making sure it has all provisions needed.

The airport started a porter service in which people needing assistance can arrive at the police check station to be taken to a terminal. Recent increases in airport security have caused parking lanes around the airport to be closed, which led to increasing the porter services. Kolt said the airport will contact the destination airport officials, alerting them to provide special assistance.

“It’s been very helpful for people with special needs and for seniors,” Kolt said. “I think Lansing has a lot of things to accommodate people with special needs. They are valued customers and we want to encourage them to travel and make it as easy as possible for them.”

Michael Hudson, director of the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, said with the increased focus campuswide on establishing study abroad programs and participation, the resource center wanted to make sure it was involved as well.

“One of the major goals of our office is to help students integrate into all aspects of campus life,” he said. “The Office of Study Abroad is learning more about disability and we are learning more about study abroad.”

Hudson said the resource center is trying to collect data on how many students with disabilities have participated in study abroad programs.

“One of the things we want to do is gather ideas for students on where the barriers are from students who have already participated and what some of them wished they would have known before,” he said. “We focus on people as individuals, categorizing only goes so far. Each person has unique needs. Some things our office can do for them and some things they can do on their own.”

“The overarching goal is to ensure that students, regardless of disabilities, have an equal opportunity to participate in a study abroad program.”

Megan Frye can be reached at fryemega@msu.edu.