INTERVIEW # 11: FEATURING LIZZY RIVERA

I don’t like the world of disability. No one asked but still.  I am a person with different abilities and as a child they were undiagnosed. That fact affected my learning journey immensely. Some of my siblings have different abilities (the term I prefer) and face varying health challenges, mine being the absolute least.  My family is a family of overcomers, but my learning journey was not an easy one. 

As a child I struggled to learn on paper, I could hear anything you said, but if you gave it to me on paper, you lost me. I remember feeling bright, but not being able to transfer that intelligence to paper. I will never forget what it feels like to sit in a class of your peers and be nervous to be called on. It’s terrifying, and I lived that terror every day in elementary school. It gives you shivers all the way to your boots. And lately being a kid is hard enough. 

Some Adults like Lizzy Rivera get it. Lizzy is an advocate for families whose members have different abilities, the human embodiment of compassion. She is existing in a state of empathy and her journey and path reflect an infinite determination to succeed. When I met her, I felt so relieved, so grateful that she had chosen to fight for children in our community. She leads a path she walked, being a mother, whose children were educated in public schools.

 Born in Puerto Rico and educated across oceans, her sense of feminism is rooted in her mother’s lessons. She committed to helping improve systems and lifelong learning (always a sign of intelligence in my opinion). She’s currently enrolled in a School Psychology program to obtain initial certification, after graduating Summa Cum Laude from SUNY Empire State College with a B.A. in Psychology – as a full-time mom.

As a people, Latinos are resilient and self-reliant.  Sometimes those resiliencies lead us to overlook the times we need help or be hesitant to ask for it. Lizzy’s quote:

“A person also needs intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to work towards those goals. This is where the community comes into play to remove systematic barriers of ableism, sexism, colorism, and xenophobia that discourage individuals from creating goals and prevents them from seeing themselves in positions that they can achieve to reach their full potential.”

Lizzy Rivera is an advocate fighting ableism and if you read her interview, you will learn how and why. Ableism is defined as discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.  According to the Dept of Education In 2018, 32% of the children diagnosed with a disability in New York State identified as Hispanic and or Latino.

THE INTERVIEW:

Where were you raised, and what were the values taught in your home? My story started in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, with family roots from Barranquitas, PR.

Where were you raised, and what were the values taught in your home? My story started in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, with family roots from Barranquitas, PR. Since my family was from el campo, we had strong family ties and conservative values. My mother, Neida Fonseca, raised me to be independent, resilient, and accept change as it comes. Education was important, and she had high expectations of my brother and sister to graduate college, something she always dreamed of doing.

What was your experience as a student?  The journey from Puerto Rico to Buffalo happened right before my Quinceanera. My brother was sent the previous year to stay with my aunt Gladys Santiago to see if he liked the school system, and since he had a good experience, we came to Buffalo. I was not in full agreement with the move since this was before the time of cell phones. I knew I would lose the connection with friends, novios (lol), and most importantly, my extended family. My family was afraid of “las nuevas juntillas” (negative peer influence) and thought it would be best to advocate for high school placement in a monolingual school with ENL support (Bennett High). It was unheard, to take ENL services outside a Bilingual school. Grover Cleveland High was the only option if you needed support in English for your classes.

R&B, Reggae, and HipHop became my teachers of acculturation into the new environment. I also had a best friend named Fatima from Mali that served as a guide. She had gone through the same experience years earlier when she arrived in Buffalo. I had amazing teachers and others like the English teacher that told me, “Don’t take the Regents, you will not pass.” Well, don’t tell a Latina she can’t do something; she may just prove you wrong! I was in the top 20 of my graduating class with a Regents diploma of almost 300 students at the time attending Bennett High.

At the time, Bennett High offered an International Program that was progressive, offering multiple languages like Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, and Chinese. The Latinx population was very small, and to make our little Borinquen, we created a Multicultural Club that highlighted the school’s cultural diversity. During one of the multicultural assemblies, our group danced to “el baile de perrito” that none of us ever forgot. Also, I would sneak go after school to Grover to meet my cousin and dance for their salsa band. These experiences served as a basis for my passion for working with people from multicultural and linguistic backgrounds.

When did you start working and what was your first or favorite job? I started working in Buffalo as a cashier on the old Tops on Niagara Street. Many around my age group have fond memories of this supermarket as it was the unofficial hangout for many in the Westside of Buffalo. I currently work for the Buffalo Public Schools in the Special Education Department as a Spanish-speaking Community Education Leader and for the Parent Network of WNY as a family support specialist for parents that have children with disabilities. Both jobs have provided the opportunity to assist families with multicultural backgrounds experiencing difficulties and barriers.

What was the moment that you were inspired to take control of your future? The moment that inspired me to take control of my future was, unfortunately, the experience of going through difficulties with my children. Early in life, I became a mother of four, with two of my children having special needs ‐ one son with Central Processing Auditory Disorder (CPAD) and another one with mild Autism. As a Latina mother of children with disabilities, life became considerably difficult. I was a single mother due to domestic violence, and my children had behavioral difficulties in school. I was often called to pick up my children from school or to stay with them in the classroom.

In the subsequent years, I struggled to secure services and navigate through the educational system on behalf of my children. Then, I sought and became employed by the Special Education Department of the Buffalo Public School (BPS). I began to work as a paraprofessional for children with disabilities and later as a Community Education Leader in the Special Education Department. After my boys graduated from high school, I thought that now was my chance to sign up for school and receive a degree to continue helping in my community. 

I applied for college at SUNY Empire State. A school that allowed me the flexibility of an online schedule, to be a full-time mother, employee, and college student. Hard work paid off, and I earned an Associate in Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology as Summa Cum Laude. Afterward, I took a leap of faith and applied for a graduate degree in the Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology (CEP) at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB).

I am currently enrolled in the School Psychology program to obtain initial certification and build my credentials as a practitioner and a scientist in the field.  It is important for me to work with children and families who have linguistic and multicultural backgrounds. Furthermore, my goal is to serve children at risk of being identified with a disability due to academic or behavioral concerns. Providing appropriate interventions in school could reduce the high number of minority children that are currently being over-identified with an educational classification. 

Most of my schooling I have done between my late thirties and early forties. You may think, why are you doing this now? Because the present moment is the best time to build the future, you want to see yourself excelling. I do not consider myself “super smart” or “special”, I am your regular Latina who came from Puerto Rico to the West Side of Buffalo. In my life, I have been through difficult situations like domestic violence, acculturation, and struggles to learn about my children’s disabilities. Still, the problems only temporarily stopped me from the future I wanted to provide for my family.  

What advice do you have for other Latinx people who want their voices to be heard in their community? The best way to have your voices heard in your community is to be involved and engaged. For example, if you are having problems with your children in school or are not sure what a recent diagnosis means towards your child’s future, reach out to individuals in your community that can provide answers to those questions. Your child’s school has a school psychologist, social worker, and special education teachers that are willing to assist parents. Also, outside agencies like the Parent Network of WNY offer free educational training for parents in various Special Education topics and a support group in Spanish that I lead every month. For more systematic changes in Special Education services within the Buffalo Public Schools, the parent group to reach out to is SEPAC. They need LatinX parent representation to advocate for our children and specialized needs. Reach out, get involved and raise your Voz!

 What is your theory on human potential? My theory on human potential is that everyone can learn and achieve personal goals if they are supported with services and a community that caters to their needs. This is especially true when students with disabilities are given the specialized instruction, they need in the classroom to accommodate differences in abilities or learning. A person also needs intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to work towards those goals. This is where the community comes into play to remove systematic barriers of ableism, sexism, colorism, and xenophobia that discourage individuals from creating goals and prevent them from seeing themselves in positions that they can achieve to reach their full potential. What is your opinion on the fact that Latinx women are the most underpaid demographic in the United States? The fact that Latinx are the most underpaid demographic in the United States is a sad reflection of the complexities of systematic sexism and xenophobia that exist within our society. Often, our madres y hermanas, must work twice as hard to get a job or position and are expected to make double the effort. Also, cultural expectations of keeping the family running and familial duties prevent Latinas from taking risks applying for higher jobs or leaving home for better education or job opportunities. Education and organization offer the chance for Latinx women to fight those systematic oppressions that exist. Let’s work together to highlight the plights of Latinx Latinx women that promote transformational changes within our communities.