Learning can be developmental

HUMBERTO CASPA

Sandra S. Rios still remembers when her father told her that the

United States and Mexico used to have open borders. People would move

in and out of both sides of the border with little, if any,

restrictions.

That is the kind of open space she envisions today, not for the

immigrants coming to the U.S., but rather for those with develop-

mental disabilities trying to overcome society’s restrictions.

Rios is an accomplished and successful speech pathologist. She

works at Fairview Developmental Center, a state facility for

individuals with developmental disabilities in Costa Mesa. Also, she

does speech evaluations as an independent consultant for the Wells

Speech Group in Irvine.

If there is a short way to explain how she feels about her job,

this is what I came out with: She loves it.

“There is nothing better than waking up in the morning and going

out to work,” she said.

Whenever we both spoke about the “consumers,” a term used to

describe people with developmental disabilities, during our one-hour

conversation, she often have a big smile on her face.

“Not only do I work for and with them, sometimes they help me

understand concepts that I would normally take for granted,” she

said.

Being a speech pathologist, however, wasn’t Rios’ first choice

when she enrolled in the University of Texas at El Paso. She sought a

medical career first. But when she took a few biology courses, she

realized how messy it could get handling tissues, organs and human

parts on a daily basis.

She decided medicine wasn’t for her. Then she took a subtle shift

toward a speech-therapist profession.

Her family’s bicultural background played a role in choosing a

socially focused career rather than one associated with profit

making. Her father Ignacio Silva, a World War II veteran, was

originally from Durango, Mexico. And her mother Barbara was from

Germany. They met each other in Europe, and moved to the United

States once the war was over.

Unfortunately for Rios, her family moved away from one place to

another quite often, following the footsteps of her military father.

She was born in El Paso, Texas, but she ended up staying in France

and other European countries in her early school years, along with

her sister and older brother.

As a result of being educated in distinct social environments and

with different kinds of people, Rios learned a valuable lesson: We,

as individuals, are the same thing despite our differences in skin

color, nationality, ethnicity, gender, etc. In reality, we all tend

to act, plan and solve our issues in a rather similar manner.

After working about 25 years in California, she is also convinced

that individuals with develop- mental disabilities, for the most

part, are no different than normal people. In fact, a few of them

have achieved higher goals than those set up by average American men

and women.

I shared one of my personal stories with her to support her views.

When I interviewed for a part-time teaching job at Chapman University

a couple of years ago, I was deeply moved by the dean’s presence in

the social science department. He had obvious developmental

disabilities. Still, with the help of an assistant, he was keen,

coherent and extremely intelligent. I didn’t get the job, but as soon

as I stepped out of his office, I felt very fortunate to meet him.

Although I have never gone back there to talk to him again, his image

continues to stay vivid in my memory.

Stories like that of the dean at Chapman University are many, Rios

said. She actually knows someone who used to push his wheelchair

every day to get to college, even in rainy seasons and hot days.

Today, this same individual has already received a bachelor’s degree

from an accredited university and is one of her close friends.

There are a few cases, however, in which placement occurs -- an

instance by which a “consumer” is placed in the broader society --

but the individual isn’t as successful as originally planned. “We

don’t consider that instance a failure,” Rios said. “The placement

was just not a good match with the consumer.”

A group of professionals from different areas gets together every

six months to determine, among other things, the individuals’

readiness for placement.

For Rios, placing people represents a special challenge and a

personal goal. She likes to see individuals with developmental

disabilities going out and integrating little by little to our

society.

However, she also feels that such facilities as Fairview

Developmental Center offer a quality time for the developmentally

disabled.

“Our community should feel proud of what we have here,” Rios said.

* HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and bilingual writer. He

can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].