Electronic communications provide new options for accessing people and resources. Computers, when appropriately adapted for access, allow students with disabilities to communicate with peers, educators, and mentors, and to access electronic information without assistance. This paper highlights several activities of the DO-IT project at the University of Washington where access to the Internet empowers high school students with disabilities, preparing them for success in college studies and careers.

Individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in science, engineering, and mathematics academic programs and careers. Few enter these fields and those who do experience high dropout rates. Causes of this problem include:

1. Individuals with disabilities lack regular access to role models who are disabled and successful in educational programs and/or careers in engineering, mathematics, and science. Potential role models are often separated by great distances, leaving individuals with disabilities isolated from those who have faced or are facing similar obstacles in school and work.

2. Counselors, social service agency staff, parents, and special education teachers often discourage students with disabilities to prepare for entering these fields.

3. Lab facilities, computers, and network resources are often not accessible to disabled students.

The National Science Foundation funded a project through the College of Engineering at the University of Washington whose purpose is to recruit and retain students with disabilities into science, engineering, and mathematics academic programs and careers. DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) makes extensive use of computers, adaptive technology, and the Internet network.

The goals of DO-IT are to recruit and retain students with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics programs and careers and to act as a catalyst and resource for other institutions who wish to make similar efforts. Objectives for reaching these goals include:

• To help students with disabilities learn how they can use computers, electronic communications, and Internet resources to increase their independence and productivity and to support their efforts in pursuing academic programs and careers in science, engineering, and mathematics; to promote the use of technology as an accommodation for individuals with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics academic programs and careers.

• To encourage high school students with disabilities to take mathematics and science classes in high school and college, moving toward careers in science, engineering, and mathematics.

• To facilitate communication between high school students with disabilities and accomplished students and professionals with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics, and other fields.

• To promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics academic programs and careers; to create positive learning, working, and social environments by improving access to labs, programs, adaptive technology, and network resources; to improve attitudes towards individuals with disabilities.

One program within the DO-IT activities is called DO-IT Scholars. DO-IT Scholars are selected during their Sophomore or Junior years of high school on the basis of their interest and aptitude in science, engineering, or mathematics; their motivation to participate in the program; and the benefit of the program to them relative to other applicants. They reside in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington. Disabilities represented include blindness, deaf-blindness, low vision, mobility/orthopedic impairments, hearing impairments, attention deficit disorder, specific learning disabilities, speech impairments, amputations, health impairments, and brain injury.

The multi-year DO-IT Scholars program extends from high school through college. Internet access plays a key role in all phases of the program.

Internetworking

DO-IT Scholars learn to use computers to enrich their education and explore career opportunities, through information access and communications with college students, faculty, and professionals on the Internet network. Scholars communicate electronically from home using computers, modems, software, Internet network connections and special adaptive technology. Local Internet connections are established through partner institutions. Students and their families receive in-home training on the use of the technology, electronic mail, and Internet resources. Initial training is followed up with short, weekly lessons delivered via electronic mail.

The important role that computers and the Internet play in DO-IT is evidenced by "snapshots" of a few Scholars:

• Anna became a DO-IT Scholar in 1992. Blind since preschool, she gained access to a portable computer system with voice output, a scanner with optical character recognition, a Braille printer and the wealth of human and information resources on the Internet network. On the network, she can read a "newspaper" independently; use an encyclopedia, dictionary and thesaurus; conduct library searches; read journals; make friends all over the world; and communicate with practicing engineers and scientists and University students, some of them blind, too. Being part of the Internet community has changed Anna's life! She earned a four-year scholarship to the University of Washington and now lives in a dorm on campus.

• Ben, who has no functional use of his hands and legs "types" by talking into a headset-mounted microphone. He has become an Internet explorer; he no longer has trouble finding things to do on the weekend and he can complete more of his school work independently. He has developed a wide circle of friends, thanks to the Internet.

• Hollis, who has cerebral palsy and limited speech, uses an on-screen keyboard controlled with a foot switch and is pleased to say "I can express my ideas to other people!" He is also proficient at computer-aided design.

• Katharine, a Scholar with a learning disability, uses spell-check and screen enlarging software and voice output to help with her read and write. She hopes to use technology to help her access information and read it.

"Network communication, " reports a DO-IT industry partner, "is a liberating experience for many of these kids, since their disabilities aren't visible in their email. They have been quick to exploit the technology, both to communicate among themselves and also to explore worlds that were previously inaccessible to them." Observes an DO-IT Internet instructor, "Their boundaries are no longer the chair they're in or the room they're in. They have the whole world at their call."

Electronic tools on the Internet allow the DO-IT community to extend far beyond the group of Scholars to thousands world-wide. Electronic discussion lists and Gopher and World Wide Web (WWW) servers promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics fields and the use of access technologies to level the playing field for individuals with disabilities in the information age.

Mentoring

Through electronic communications, personal meetings, and joint projects using the Internet, DO-IT Scholars are brought together with college students, faculty, and practicing engineers and scientists with disabilities to facilitate academic, career, and personal achievements. Post-secondary student mentors and career mentors study and work in fields that include communications engineering, disabled student support, chemistry, education, statistics, engineering, computer science, computer consulting, adaptive technology, and biology. All mentors have access to the Internet network through the University of Washington or other host institutions. In addition to mentoring DO-IT Scholars, they contribute regularly to project ideas and implementation through electronic communication.

A Scholar describes mentors as people who help them "find their talents, interests, and confirm their goals." One mentor, a professor who sustained a stroke, summarizes, "I think the DO-IT program is a really wonderful thing. It seems to be really helping the kids in getting towards their goals, and from a mentor's point of view it has given me a chance to use my experience in a positive way, and help these kids out. It's a win-win game! ... The key to this program is the use of computers and the net. With the mobility problems many of us have, it's the only way we could ever meet!"

In addition to developing relationships with mentors, Scholars develop and practice communication and leadership skills by acting as peer mentors to younger participants. DO-IT Scholars also correspond with patients at Seattle's Children's Hospital and Medical Center over the network.

Summer Study

DO-IT Scholars study science, engineering, and mathematics by participating in lectures and labs and using computer applications and educational software, electronic mail, and resources on the Internet during a two-week, live-in, summer program at the University of Washington. Topics for investigation include oceanography; heart surgery; chemistry; virtual reality; geophysics; material sciences, engineering; mathematics; biology; physics; astronomy; and climatology. Accommodations are made in each activity to ensure that all participants remain as active and as independent as possible.

"It was interesting to watch these students when they first arrived," observes an instructor. "They were just like any group of campers - a little tentative in a new situation where they didn't really know how they would fit in. As they started to bond as a group they discovered that there were things they shared in common. Across disabilities there were some very exciting things to see, where students realized they could complement each other." After observing two summer programs, a corporate partner and advisory board member notes, "We repeatedly hear the comment that these kids have never experienced a situation like this before - where the focus is on their abilities (rather than their disabilities) and yet everyone else has their own challenges to overcome. The combination seems to produce an almost immediate sense of community and an extremely supportive intellectual environment."

The last day of typical summer campus is filled with emotional farewells. In contrast, because of the Internet connections established for DO-IT Scholars, participants don't loose contact when the summer program is over. Most log on and continue their conversations the very next day.

One year after their initial summer program, DO-IT Scholars return to the University of Washington campus to work on joint projects in science with faculty and other professionals during a one-week summer program. Participants develop knowledge, skills, and interests gained in the previous year by working on joint science projects with faculty and other professionals; and by presenting their individual projects to other Scholars, staff, and summer study faculty.

Throughout the year, DO-IT Scholars design and complete independent science projects based on their individual interests. DO-IT mentors and staff provide assistance in planning and completing their projects. Individual projects selected by Phase II participants have included planning and organizing a tour of Batelle Pacific Laboratories, designing a computer-based maintaining CHAT system, working on virtual reality projects, evaluating software, and maintaining and expanding information service. Participants also contribute articles for the DO-IT News newsletter and give input on various aspects of the project, all over the information highway.

In the recent past, careers in science, engineering and mathematics may have seemed like pipe dreams for individuals with disabilities. However, in a large part because of developments in adaptive technologies, more extensive use of computers and networks in these career fields, and an explosion of electronic resources, doors of opportunity are gradually opening for people with disabilities. The historical impact of technology on people with disabilities cannot be over-estimated. Computers and networks can help them access resources, communicate with others, and perform academic tasks independently. Such tools are required if individuals with disabilities are to successfully compete with their non-disabled peers.

The ultimate goal of DO-IT and similar programs is to increase the participation of individuals with disabilities in academic programs and careers. Access to the electronic highway plays a critical role in reaching this goal. Parents, educators, and policy makers should work to make facilities, computers, science equipment, and programs accessible to people with a variety of disabilities and to make sure young children with disabilities learn to use computers, electronic communications, and network resources to increase their independence in pursuing academic studies.

DO-IT Resources

DO-IT has created many printed publications and the following four videotapes: DO-IT Scholars; Working Together: Faculty and Students with Disabilities; Working Together: Science; Working Together: Technology and People with Disabilities.

DO-IT electronic resources include: DOITSEM discussion list. To join, send electronic mail with a blank subject line to listproc@u.washington.edu and message "subscribe doitsem Firstname Lastname." DO-IT Gopher server at hawking.u.washington.edu DO-IT WWW home page with URL http://www.washington.edu/doit/

For more information about DO-IT contact
DO-IT
University of Washington, JE-25/Room 206
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 685-DOIT
FAX (206) 685-4054
doit@u.washington.edu

About the Author:

Sheryl Burgstahler is the director of the DO-IT Project. With Bachelors and Masters degrees in mathematics and a Ph. D. in higher education, Burgstahler is an assistant director in the Computing & Communications department and a research assistant professor at the University of Washington.