Perspectives of STEM Students with Disabilities: Our Journeys, Communities, & Big Ideas

“Young scientists and engineers teach us something beyond the specific topics that they’re exploring. They teach us how to question assumptions; to wonder why something is the way it is, and how we can make it better. And they remind us that there’s always something more to learn, and to try, and to discover, and to imagine – and that it’s never too early, or too late to create or discover something new…We don’t want to just increase the number of American students in STEM. We want to make sure everybody is involved. We want to increase the diversity of STEM programs, as well…We get the most out of all our nation’s talent – and that means reaching out to boys and girls, men and women of all races and all backgrounds. Science is for all of us. And we want out classrooms and labs and workplaces and media to reflect that.”

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, 3.23.15
Remarks at the White House Science Fair

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
— Thomas A. Edison — 

We all have defining moments in our lives. However, much of our development comes through small, incremental steps in which friends, parents, teachers, and counselors play roles. As mentors, caring adults may have established long-term relationships with us and promoted our success. Many seemingly inconsequential interactions shaped who we are now and who we will become.

Although most of this networking develops informally, supportive relationships can be intentionally promoted. This book tells how to create and sustain an electronic community designed to support teens with disabilities. Strategies and content can be easily adapted to other populations.

The personal stories, mentoring tips, and activities for teens with disabilities included in this book can be used in an online mentoring community (also called an electronic mentoring community or e-mentoring community) to promote success in school, careers, and other life experiences. It includes steps that lead to a happy, healthy, successful future for anyone, regardless of the presence of a disability. In the community of young people and mentors described in this book, key questions are asked, but simple answers are not provided. It is a place where everyone can find opinions that reflect their own as well as alternative views. Online discussions help participants more fully understand themselves, as well as individuals and systems with whom they interact, as they chart their own course to success.

The set of strategies presented in this book has its foundation in the large body of research and practice in the areas of:

• success
• self-determination
• transition
• mentoring
• peer support
• community building
• electronic communication

We know too well that postsecondary academic, career, and independent living outcomes for people with disabilities are discouraging. We often hear about the problems young people with disabilities face—physical obstacles, social rejection, academic failure, unemployment, drug abuse, and medical crises. Much research focuses on identifying these problems and then developing specific strategies for overcoming them. This approach is consistent with research and practice regarding adolescents from other high-risk groups, which concentrate on helping youth avoid identified problems—pregnancy, drug abuse, high school dropout, criminal activity, academic failure, gang membership—or deal with these problems once they exist. In contrast, this book presents strategies that contribute to the overall positive development of youth, which will also help them avoid many types of problems in the future, as well as successfully deal with those they ultimately face.

After all, some people do overcome significant challenges and lead successful lives. What does success mean to them, and how do they achieve it? What internal characteristics do these individuals possess, and what external factors have been present in their lives? What advice do they have for helping young people build personal strengths to overcome the challenges they face now, as well as those they no doubt will face in the future? How can these individuals with relevant insights be brought together with young people with disabilities as they travel the road to adulthood? How can long-term relationships with mentors and peers help young people develop into competent, contributing, and content adults? How can successful strategies be applied in an online forum?

Transitioning through academic levels to a career is a journey. The AccessSTEM and AccessComputing projects, both led by the University of Washington (UW) and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), help students with disabilities toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with AccessComputing more narrowly focused on computing fields. DO-IT—which stands for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology— partners with the UW College of Engineering and Department of Computer Science and Engineering to undertake these projects that promote the success of individuals with disabilities in college, graduate school, and careers.

In AccessSTEM and AccessComputing hundreds of individuals with disabilities have participated in activities that increase STEM interest and success through critical junctures (e.g., high school graduation, enrollment in college) and transitions (e.g., military service to college, 2-year to 4-year school, undergraduate to graduate school, college to career). Participants engage in activities that include STEM internships, mentoring, self advocacy practice, peer support, role-play interactions with faculty and employers, and career opportunities.

The AccessSTEM critical junctures model (see Figure below) identifies key steps that lead to the success of students with disabilities in STEM careers. Based on a literature review and over twenty years of practice in the field, the model also highlights interventions (e.g., mentoring, research experiences, technology access) that support students on their journeys.

The AccessSTEM/AccessComputing/DO-IT Longitudinal Transition Study (ALTS) measures success in taking critical steps toward STEM careers of participants with disabilities in activities sponsored by AccessSTEM and other projects sponsored or co-sponsored by the DO-IT Center at the UW. To date, more than 300 students with a wide range of disabilities participate in this ongoing study.

In ALTS, participants are asked to report key academic and work-based achievements. They also identify the DO-IT activities they participated in and rate the value of specific activities. Researchers record the “on track” status of respondents as they progress through critical junctures that lead to degrees and careers in STEM. As this database grows, it increasingly reveals the long-term impact of DO-IT’s program activities. It quantifies the relative importance of activities for achieving positive postsecondary outcomes. More information about ALTS and its current results are available here.

Ultimately, understanding the STEM journeys of students with disabilities requires that we hear their stories, understand their struggles, and reflect on their experiences. The following section of this book shares essays about journeys in STEM from participants in AccessSTEM, AccessComputing, and other DO-IT programs.

"I learned to be determined and never give up, and, with the help I need, I can take take on anything" - Fred

Success rarely happens in isolation. Student success is impacted by many stakeholders, as illustrated in Figure P.1—people with disabilities themselves; parents and family members; peers; K-12 teachers, counselors, and support staff; postsecondary administrators, faculty, and staff; legislators and policy makers; government service providers; and community leaders and group members. The Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) Center at the University of Washington, with funding from federal, state, and private sources, has addressed issues in most of these areas with projects, publications, and web resources described at DO-IT Website.

Specifically, in AccessSTEM, AccessComputing, and other programs led by DO-IT, mentor, peer, and near-peer support occurs both in person and within an e-mentoring community. Participants are mentored within a group, thus many contribute to conversations. Participants also disseminate academic- and career-enhancing resources that benefit all community members. Benefits of the e-community approach may include the following:

• Individuals benefit from the experiences of a large group of mentors, peers, and near-peers.
• Mentors can specialize in areas of greatest strength.
• Mentors learn techniques from each other by attending to the communications that take place.
• The program performs successfully even though some mentors are less available and skilled than others.
• Using asynchronous, text-based communication on the Internet eliminates barriers posed by other forms of communication with respect to location, schedule, and disability.
• Program administrators view all group communications that take place, thus making it possible for them to guide and contribute to conversations.

Most AccessSTEM and AccessComputing mentors are college students, faculty, engineers, scientists, or other professionals who have disabilities. Mentees are pursuing STEM careers, and they all have disabilities, including vision, hearing, mobility, health impairments and specific learning disabilities. Frequent electronic communications and personal contacts bring mentees, peers, near-peers, and mentors together to facilitate academic, career, and personal achievements.

DO-IT’s mentoring program received national recognition when it received the 1997 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mentoring “for embodying excellence in mentoring underrepresented students and encouraging their significant achievement in science, mathematics, and engineering.” It also received the National Information Infrastructure Award in 1995 “for those whose achievements demonstrate what is possible when the powerful forces of human creativity and technologies are combined.” Research results suggest the success of the DO-IT electronic community in promoting positive college and career outcomes. But more importantly, the DO-IT e-mentoring community has documented its value in the successful lives of its participants and the willingness of those who were once protégés to support young people in the community as they were supported in their youth.

In the following section of this book, students share stories about the importance of community and the influence of supportive individuals in their pursuit of STEM careers.

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway" - Shawn

STEM students and professionals are often motivated by the positive impact their work may have in the world. This includes people with disabilities in STEM The goal of AccessSTEM is to increase the number of individuals with disabilities completing postsecondary STEM degrees and entering the STEM workforce. AccessComputing has a similar goal, but focuses more narrowly on computing fields.

Project interventions for students with disabilities are consistent with the five conditions for nurturing healthy, successful children identified by America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth: caring adults, safe places and constructive use of time, a healthy start and healthy development, effective education for developing marketable skills and lifelong learning, and opportunities to make a difference through helping others.

Through project activities, participants are encouraged to learn science (attraction), choose to keep learning mathematics and science (retention), graduate (persistence), and continue into STEM careers (attachment)—steps encouraged by the NSF Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering.

Additionally, project leaders are guided by the results of an evaluation of research about NSF-funded programs conducted by SRI International in 2009 in which AccessSTEM was featured. SRI International identified important characteristics that contributed to successful outcomes of AccessSTEM were interventions that promote

• Belonging (both academic & social integration),
• Involvement (in academic & social life),
• Purpose (e.g., through internships, workshops, networking, mentoring), and
• Self-determination (skill building, practice).

Some students are excited about working on assistive technology, software, applications, health care, and other products designed to help individuals with disabilities. Others are more interested in using their STEM degree to work on myriad pressing issues such as climate change, national defense, social inequities, national infrastructure, and public policy.

In the following section of this book, students share their ideas about using STEM to change the world around them.

“Education is by far the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela

The following resources may be of interest to students with disabilities and to those supporting students with disabilities pursuing STEM academic programs and careers.

All of the following resources can be accessed from the DO-IT website.

Related Projects

The following projects relate to increasing the success of people with disabilities in STEM careers.

AccessSTEM

In a partnership led by the DO-IT Center, AccessSTEM serves to increase the participation of people with disabilities in STEM careers. Outreach and dissemination efforts extend nationwide.

AccessComputing

The purpose of AccessComputing is to increase the participation of people with disabilities in computing careers. Outreach and dissemination efforts extend nationwide. AccessComputing is a partnership between the DO-IT Center and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Washington.

Communities of Practice (COPs)

The DO-IT Center at the University of Washington hosts online CoPs for multiple stakeholder groups. Communicating using email, members of CoPs share perspectives and expertise and identify practices that promote the participation and success of people with disabilities in education and careers. Multiple CoPs directly relate to STEM, including the STEM Educators CoP; AccessCyberlearning CoP; AccessCSForAll CoP; Broadening Participation CoP; Computing Faculity, Administrator, and Employer CoP; and Accessible Information Technology CoP. To learn more about these CoPs, visit here.

Resources

The following publications, knowledge base, and videos showcase how to make STEM more accessible to, welcoming to, and usable by people with disabilities.

Accessible Science Equipment

Sometimes all it takes for a student with a disability to participate in a science activity is planning ahead when selecting products for a science lab. Below are examples of products the DO-IT Center has purchased to make science activities accessible to all students.

Checklist for making Science Labs Accessible to Students with Disabilities

A series of strategies for implementing universal design and accessibility into science and STEM labs. This activity leads to greater awareness and more inclusive learning environments.

Accessibility Reviews of Informal Science Education Facilities and Programs

AccessSTEM team members engage in opportunities to review science programs or facilities where they earn a stipend plus the cost of the visit, if they submit an accessibility review form. This promising practice increases student knowledge of accessible science, and increases the awareness of accessibility issues for staff members at informal science education facilities. This practice can adopt the practice and includes worksheets and instructions.

KNOWLEDGE BASE

The DO-IT searchable Knowledge Base currently contains over 800 Case Studies, Promising Practices, and Q&As regarding accessibility of technology, college, graduate school, and careers for individuals with disabilities. Some sample articles from the Knowledge Base include the following:

• Are there guidelines for describing STEM images within digital talking books?
• The Elevator Pitch Contest: A Promising Practice for Preparing STEM Students with Disabilities for Employment
• What affects the self-efficacy of postsecondary students with disabilities in STEM fields?
• What are key issues for increasing the successful participation of individuals with disabilities in STEM fields?
• Where can I find training materials for making STEM instruction accessible?
• Where can I learn about sign language for STEM fields?

VIDEOS

The following videos promote the success of people with disabilities, particularly in school and work settings. DO-IT videos play in Able Player, a custom accessible media player with audio description and transcripts provided. They can be downloaded or viewed here. The Search Video Library feature enables users to search the full text of all videos and begin playing videos at specific start times from the search results.

• STEM and People with Disabilities
• Equal Access: Universal Design of an Academic Department
• Captions: Improving Access to Postsecondary Education
• Working Together: People with Disabilities and Computer Technology

Scott Bellman currently serves as program manager of the Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) Center at the University of Washington, where he has worked for 15 years. His interests include the career development of students with disabilities and access to challenging postsecondary programs and careers. Scott attended the University of Iowa, where he received a master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation counseling and a degree in psychology.

Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler founded the DO-IT Center. Dr. Burgstahler is an affiliate professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington. Her teaching and research focus on the successful transition of students with disabilities to college and careers and on the application of universal design to technology, learning activities, physical spaces, and student services.

The Washington State Accessible IT Capacity Building Institute on Policy #188 was funded by Access Technology Services at the University of Washington. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the CBI presenters, attendees, and publication authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Washington.

Accessible Technology Services
University of Washington
Box 354842
Seattle, WA 98195-4842
www.washington.edu/accessibility/
doit.uw.edu/
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© 2018 University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy this publication for educational, noncommercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.