Mona Gardner is a speech-language pathologist on the Caribbean island of Antigua & Barbuda. Her Center for the Holistic Advancement of Therapeutic Services (CHATS) is the only such practice on the island where for the past five years, she and her team have been diligently working to change the invisible disability narrative on the island.

Her journey with speech-language pathology started within her household. Eighteen years ago, after her younger brother was born, daily she observed the difficulties her mom endured, knowing that something was a little bit different about her son, but not having access to resources for a diagnosis. Finding a professional to give advice or a diagnosis was challenging and hope within her household began to dissipate. At three years old, her brother showed the typical signs of a child who had delayed communication skills and was at risk for developing some sort of learning disability. He was a late talker, had constant ear infections and also had issues socializing at preschool. He then went on to Kindergarten and there too he was not succeeding academically – the teachers wanted him to repeat Kindergarten. Mona remembers the pain of watching her mom cry in despair as an institution blamed her for being the reason her son was not able to accomplish certain milestones, as expected. Specifically, it was a note telling her mom that it was her fault he had to repeat Kindergarten, because “you are not spending enough time with your child.” Her brother was moved from school to school – four primary schools in total – and it was while he attended an international school on the island that had teachers on staff who were trained in special needs from Canada, that they were able to meet his learning needs. Although her brother changed school due to the closing of the international school, while at his next school he continued to flourish. Focus was then placed on his abilities, they concentrated on his strengths and from within him an entirely new personality and confidence emerged. Hope was restored to her family and Mona knew she had found her profession!

Her brother’s diagnosis lit a fire in her to help families in similar situations. The career toward speech-language pathology was birthed, but it was not a straight forward journey. She was a biology major at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, en route to becoming an otolaryngologist. While visiting her speech-language pathologist cousin, Mona decided to shadow her at work for a few days. Career-curious discussions with her ensued and Mona then realized conclusively that she wanted to diagnose, play an integral part in the intervention, the turnaround and provide help holistically and meaningfully to people who needed speech-language pathology remediation. But she was already three years into her biology program, it was difficult to change her major and the university she attended did not even offer speech-language pathology! That fire, however, was now lit, and fueled with determination, she found another university that offered the prerequisites for speech-language pathology and did an overwhelmingly taxing credit overload. It was difficult, but she persevered and succeeded. Her Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology was thereafter obtained with distinction from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. In 2016 she then returned home to Antigua and opened her private practice.

CHATS is housed in what was once just a building with a wide-open hall. Mona’s vision for a functional, therapeutic, accessible space was brought to life by Antiguan Interior Designer, Charmaine Werth. Visual, sensory, therapy and observation rooms were all expertly designed to cater to the needs of her clients. Observation rooms are both visual and audio so parents do not have to sit in therapy sessions with their children as this can sometimes be a distraction. But Mona likes them to see what is being done so they can continue the therapy at home, so the rooms are inviting, comfortable, practical and functional. Her building is also fully accessible.

The range of services offered by CHATS fills just a small portion of the speech-language pathology void on Antigua & Barbuda. Families come to her directly but referrals are also sent from schools, pediatricians in the hospitals and private clinics, the Special Needs unit of the Ministry of Education and also Social Services department will identify families in need and send them to her. There is a lot of people to be helped and with her being the only practice on the island, many are not able to receive her services directly, but she tries to assist as best she can. She would go into the classroom of her clients to see how the environment can be made more language-rich. She’ll coach the teacher on ways to support the children and advise on modifications that can be made in the classroom. Mona works with the entire lifespan, from babies to the geriatric. Catering to that wide demographic, public education plays a big part in helping her to change the narrative and there have been collaborative efforts with the media to that end. She is also educating families, her staff and her friends, hoping knowledge can be spread through that medium. Mona and her staff at CHATS are also exposing their client-children to different activities, such as taking them horseback riding, swimming, tennis – and by so doing they are teaching the children functional skills, and persons in the community, how to deal with the challenges that interacting with a person with an invisible disability may bring.

CHATS teaches parents to be their child’s biggest advocate, empowering them so their hope will remain. In addition to speech and language services, CHATS offers early intervention services where they focus on the global development of each child. This program was birthed as many families come to them with the notion that their child will never be able to do a specific thing and that breaks Mona’s heart, so she reminds her staff that, “Through our early intervention program we’re holding the hands of all families and advocating for and with them so their child can achieve functionality within society. We’re going to make them functional.” And her promise: “if it takes me 10 years to make your child function, I’m holding your hand until then.” 80% of the people she sees are children with autism.

Mona’s practice is run with genuine care for her families as she knows first-hand the heartache of parents or guardians seeing their child live with an invisible disability. Her own family having lived through a lengthy emotional rollercoaster before and even after her brother’s diagnosis, she is determined to change the narrative on the island. Society’s insensitivity, lack of awareness and acceptance is a constant source of immense stress for families that are already learning how to raise a child with a developmental disorder or learning disability. Support is needed, not shame or blame.

Mona says proudly, “my brother is severely dyslexic but does that mean that he can’t learn? Absolutely not! My brother’s vocabulary is more extensive than mine. He’s an auditory learner and does things differently. He’s a good at drawing and he’s amazing! He has so much to contribute to society and we refuse to let anyone limit him. We are his biggest advocates. He is now a college engineering student and we’re so proud of him!”

www.chatsantigua.com

“Travel normalizes that everyone really deserves to get a break and get out of town and see things beyond their community. And not only does that have value for the person in growing their own awareness of what’s in the world, it can also allow caregivers a chance for respite,” said Senior Supervisor of Leisure Trax, Kathryn Leonard.

When the pandemic hit, it forced the program, like many others, to rethink how to keep providing the much-needed service to a community that often gets overlooked in discussions of self-empowerment through travel. Although first met with hesitation, the transition to Zoom trips has yielded some surprising outcomes: friendships that began virtually more than a year ago are still thriving today, and the community’s expansion of worldly knowledge is beyond what anyone could have fathomed. These undeniable pros make one thing clear: virtual travel is here to stay.

“We have totally changed the frequency of how often people have an opportunity to see one another,” said Leonard. “Seeing someone once a year on a trip versus seeing someone four times a week allows you to deepen your connection in a different way and just have more things to talk about. I think we have seen people grow their social networks within Zoom.”

Cohen, 47, is one of the participants whose heightened curiosity to see the world can be attributed to virtual trips. His thirst for knowledge and love of trivia have further expanded. For instance, during a recent online trip to Tanzania, he learned that Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa – a fact he proudly shares with a grin with anyone who asks.

“Virtual travel gives me happiness and something to do,” said Cohen. “I felt less alone because I had these trips to look forward to.”

The Bronx resident has been a member of Leisure Trax for 11 years. Pre-pandemic, his voyages took him on international trips to Italy and the Bahamas. In addition, he has also experienced national attractions such as whale watching in Alaska and visiting the U.S. Army Museum in Hawaii. The cruise enthusiast said he takes a “calm and cool” approach when embarking on his journeys and has no plans of stopping any time soon.

“I feel happier on the water and just getting away from land,” Cohen said. “I feel more independent when I am traveling and experiencing new places that I’ve never been to before.”
He hopes to check off some more places on his bucket list post-pandemic like New Orleans during Mardi Gras and Cleveland to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Currently over 60 participants are enrolled in Leisure Trax. Members range in age between their 20s and 60s. Trips are funded in a variety of ways, including private donations and fundraising.

“The group knows each other very well now,” said Timothy Allan, Supervisor at Leisure Trax. “They know each other’s interest and what each other likes, who likes to write in the group chat, who likes to answer using words or emojis. Everyone is so understanding about what other people need virtually and it’s been great to have such a positive group.”

Ashley Smith, 29, of Queens, joined Leisure Trax two years ago in hopes of getting out of her comfort zone and meeting new people. Her first trip was to Philadelphia. Her second to Frost Valley, an overnight camp in the Catskills that serves as a home for YAI’s Mainstreaming at Camp.

“I was kind of nervous because I never left my mom for an overnight trip, but I wanted to be independent without my mom and make new friends,” said Smith.

Smith credits the virtual trips for helping her consider getting on an airplane for the first time and traveling to Disney World and Puerto Rico in the future.

“Getting on a plane virtually makes me want to get on one for real,” she said.
The travel industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. According to U.S. Travel Association, since the beginning of March last year and through the end of 2020, the pandemic resulted in $492 billion in cumulative losses for the travel economy.

The crushing blow to the market altered how many offered excursions. Leisure Trax took the detour early on in the pandemic – switching the travel program into an all-virtual experience and rolling out its first online trip to Hawaii in April 2020. Since then, participants have “traveled” to numerous destinations, both local and international, and meet four times a week to explore new lands, getting a crash course for each destination.

“It’s such a cool space because it leverages this environment where we don’t have to be hierarchical and so it’s really like a community of us and it doesn’t have to be like here’s the staff,” said Leonard. “I will make a traveler a co-host on Zoom and so we are all members of the program and learning about a new place together. It really does feel like a community.”
Weekly themed trips have jetted them across South America, the Galapagos Islands, Mexico to swim with the dolphins, and most recently a trip to China to learn about panda bears.

The group spent a Friday night with a nature travel guide who Zoomed in from Chengdu, China to teach them about the giant bear. The online experience was made possible by Airbnb. As part of its work to make travel more inclusive, last month the company rolled out a collection of 12 new online experiences designed by hosts with neurodiverse guests in mind.
“Our hope is these activities will help guests become more comfortable with a new activity or use them to connect with loved ones. Airbnb is committed to improving accessibility across our platform and we continue working toward our goal of making experiences as inclusive of as many needs as possible,” said Suzanne Edwards, Airbnb Head of Hosting Accessibility Standards.

“My hope is we can get back together, go on new trips, and travel and see new places together,” said Allan. “But being able to incorporate these aspects we’ve been able to use in the last year of long-lasting friendships, a travel community, ethical travel (learning about the places before we go there), are all equally important. I want to include putting the power in the traveler’s hand of what we are doing and where we are going.”

 www.yai.org