ID student Mary Dakim and Program Director Amy Wilson, presented at a Congressional Staff Briefing on Persons with Disabilities and US Foreign Assistance sponsored by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) held on Capitol Hill. Ms. Dakim spoke about her experience growing up in Nigeria for the audience to understand the challenges one faces when living as a deaf person in a resource poor country. Dr. Wilson shared research about the best practices for American international development organizations. She stressed that the key is full and direct participation of people with disabilities in American development assistance organizations, in all development assistance programs, and working directly with Disabled People's Organizations overseas in every step of development assistance - from needs assessment to project design, planning, management of programs, and evaluation.