“Having family support was a strong component growing up with disability.”
Family is home. Family is everything. Culture is the bond, the “drive and the force” to pursue dreams. In service, priorities are individuals AND their families. Our speaker put it perfectly by saying, “It’s not just dealing with that person, it’s dealing with that person’s family.” The driving force for service is seeing individuals with disabilities succeed in their goals and in their lives. The sustained motivation is also attributed to the cultural knowledge that none of the tribal languages is associated with the word disability, “Native people look at it as a different way of doing things in life.”
Each family has a unique journey and lessons of perseverance, resilience, and connections. With the fast evolution of time, families are faced with the challenges of keeping their traditions and language alive. Elders teach the children their basic language which is important in the culture. For our speakers, their language has to be spoken not only as a means of communication but for them it’s a “very spiritual part of our lives, part of our culture that’s hard to translate.” As advocates, encouraging individuals to connect to their culture through language demonstrates our commitment to bringing the importance of language, culture, and the understanding of where they are coming from. “Way of life, family and community is very important” as well as respect and humility that “puts great foundation for people for future things in their lives”.
“Learn and don’t give up on life. There’s so much to learn every day.”
Celebrate every successful step. Echoes of triumph are captured in these statements, “I did it, grandma! I did it!” For our Native individuals with disabilities, learning may take longer but they will get it. “It does take a lot of heart, a lot of love, a lot of care for these kind of individuals. But most of all you have the love and care for them to teach them.”
“We are a result of all that became before us, and each individual holds responsible for all that comes after.” The focus and commitment to service are for families, way of life, and spiritual way of living. The Elders in the communities are considered the foundation of any family. A few of the many special approaches in Native communities are “creating strong positive parenting engagement, holistic approach, and providing speci?c services for the particular traditional season. For Dine’ (Navajo), parent engagement is of utmost importance.
“What we do in our culture is very beautiful and we translate it into some of the modern day. It’s still needed, it’s still very important for our young people. Relate things to modern day of how it [culture] fits… and it fits."
Support and services look different for everyone. Cultural knowledge, humility, and tribal advocacy reshape the engagement and connections of our Native families to the services designed to be accessible for all.
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