In the United States, disability civil rights laws provided opportunities to Girma. It was a two-week trek to Sudan, 'walking at night to try to avoid the different military groups fighting in that area.' At one point she slept in a tree surrounded by hungry hyenas.Ī Catholic resettlement agency helped Gebreyesus move to the United States. The war of independence with Ethiopia was going on. In the winter of 1983, Girma's mother, Saba Gebreyesus, left Eritrea.

In an interview with NPR, Girma - who turned 27 on Wednesday - explained more about the family's journey. And in California, a deaf-blind girl like Girma had a legal right to an education. Girma told the story last week at the White House, when she introduced President Obama during a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.īy the time Girma was born in 1988, six years younger than her brother, her mother had made a refugee's journey from Eritrea to the United States. Girma describes that brother as 'brilliant.' But no school would teach a child who was deaf-blind (that's the preferred terminology in the disability community). There were schools for blind children and schools for deaf children. Years before, she had tried to find a school in Eritrea for Girma's older brother, who was also born deaf and blind.

It's easy to understand why the grandmother feels that way. To Haben Girma's grandmother, back in East Africa, it 'seemed like magic.' Her granddaughter, born deaf and blind, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and works as a civil rights attorney. White House photo/Courtesy of Haben Girma Using a digital device that displays Braille characters, Haben Girma talks with President Obama at a White House ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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