Doctoral Student Feature by:
Garrison Tsinajinie, Doctoral Student,
University of Arizona,
garrisot@email.arizona.edu
Let me begin by thanking you for the opportunity to share the story of my journey in special
education with the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Visual Impairments and Deafblindness
community. My name is Garrison Tsinajinie. As a tribal member of the Navajo Nation, I am of the Black
Streaked Wood People (Tsi'naajinii) born into the Big Water Clan (Tótsohnii). My grandfathers are of the
Towering House (Kinyaa'áanii) and Tangle (Ta'neeszahnii) Clans. After accepting the unique opportunity
to identify as a National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities (NLCSD) Scholar, I left my
hometown of Window Rock, Arizona to pursue a PhD in Special Education at the University of Arizona
(UA). While the hardest transition I have had to make within recent months has been to leave my students
in the very capable and caring hands of fellow itinerant Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs), I have
returned to the UA to conduct further research to justify the improvement of services and funding for
children with visual impairments in indigenous rural communities.
My journey in special education began 10 years ago. In search of a summer job after my first year
as a freshman at the UA, my endeavor resulted in a position as a seasonal residential service provider in
the residential program of the Saint Michaels Association for Special Education (SMASE). I spent the
summer working with students with various developmental disabilities in areas I would eventually come
to know as skills within the expanded core curriculum. Predominately within the areas of independent
living
VIDBE-Q
Volume 62 Issue 1
Peanut butter and jelly: A journey of interconnectedness
39
