Researcher and adviser honed self-advocacy skills through Fulbright and now encourages people with disabilities to go abroad

Director of Prestigious Awards and Graduate Fellowships, Pace University
Fulbright U.S. Student Study/Research to the United Kingdom

Dr. Moira Egan, PhD, was hosted at Royal Holloway, University of London while researching the history of female nurses in the Crimean War for her doctoral dissertation. She is blind and an advocate for people with disabilities pursuing academic exchange programs abroad.

This interview had been edited for length and clarity.

You just presented on a panel organized by the Fulbright Program entitled “Supporting Neurodivergent and Disabled Students in Fellowship Applications” at the Global Inclusion conference.You noted that there are lots of skills that people with disabilities have acquired that are useful when they go abroad. What are those skills?

Egan: There’s a lot of adaptability and flexibility that often comes with the territory of having a disability in the sense that the world isn’t set up for people with disabilities. People with disabilities acquire skills of adapting to changing circumstances, and flexibility and creativity in figuring out ways to get things done in ways that are different than other people might be doing them.

I think there’s a certain degree of negotiation and soft diplomacy in having to explain things to people, and having discussions about how to alter existing programs or structures or activities to make them more accommodating. So I think people with disabilities acquire or hone a lot of skills that are useful in study abroad and also in Fulbright in particular.

What skills did you use the most when you were doing your own research on Fulbright?

Egan: I was in London, so I was doing archival research in a number of different libraries and archives and it was a wonderful experience. I think I was often the first blind researcher that had been to a number of these archives. I had to advertise for and hire readers because you generally can’t take archival materials outside because they are delicate.

I had to use my skills of recruiting and hiring readers, explaining the job, and discussing with libraries and archives that there needed to be two people in a particular area and talking as necessary.

It was a lot of working out how we could accommodate both the library or archives needs and my needs as a researcher. It was part of building cultural understanding for staff at various archives to have the experience of having a blind researcher. And understanding that I was the researcher not the sighted person who was with me!

Sometimes being in libraries and archives can be a very individual and isolating experience, but one of the pleasures of it was that during lunch or on a tea break I was able to talk about what I was reading with another person—the reader. I enjoyed really getting to know them.

What was your research project about?

Egan: I wrote on British and Irish women who worked as nurses during the Crimean War, which was from 1854 to 1856. This is the war of Florence Nightingale. This is the war of the charge of the Charge of The Light Brigade. And Florence Nightingale was the appointed head of the nursing contingent that was sent out in response to public outcry that Britain did not have an equivalent to the French Sisters of Charity with the French troops.

But in fact it did. There were Catholic and Anglican nuns, and the upper-class women, and working-class lay women. I tried to explore kind of the dynamics of the cross-cultural conversations that were going on there among the English, Irish Catholics, and Protestants.

There were interesting class dynamics too. For instance, the upper-class women could talk about how they were volunteering and they were fulfilling a vocation to be of service. But the working-class women, some of them had to find ways to articulate that their primary need was a job. But they knew that it wasn’t something you’re supposed to say.

Were there any particular historical figures that you really connected to by reading their letters or other archival material?

Egan: Lot of the nurses were very creative in getting things done in very difficult circumstances and getting enough supplies for the soldiers. Some of the accounts were very funny. And some of them were heartbreaking, as the nurses were surrounded by death and illness.

I think one that that seemed very Fulbright-ish:

In her diary, one of the nurses who was Protestant wrote about how she was spending the night in the wing of the hospital with some Catholic nurses, and she heard the Catholic nuns praying evening prayer. She thought about asking if she could join them. But she wasn’t sure how that would be received. And I’ve often thought about that sense of not quite knowing: how do you handle this? Would you be welcome? Should you ask to join should you not ask to join? I think those issues resonate with any of us dealing in cross-cultural situations. That’s part of what we all grapple with: to how to approach the unexpected.

The mutual understanding piece of things, and I think I think that relates to disability too, I think there’s areas of growth within the United States, within Fulbright, and among countries, I think we can learn from each other.

Can you talk a little bit about the experience of living in an international residence while in the UK on your Fulbright?

Egan: Yes, it was called Goodenough college. It was established after World War II as an international residence. There were often events around various holidays or observances and all organized by residents. There was a group called “beyond the M25,” which would organize trips outside of London, so we went to Manchester and Bath and Scotland.

Now as a professional adviser, how do you approach advising for Fulbright?

Egan: I really try to encourage students to think about their strengths and what they bring to the situation.

You know, I didn’t get it the first time I applied and I tried again. The application process really is a learning experience and helps you articulate goals and skills— which is something that’s hard for students to be able to say what they’re good at.

Finally, how would you describe your Fulbright experience?

Egan: Fulbright is expanding. Fulbright expanded both my understanding of what I was studying and expanded my ability to advocate for myself.