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Recently, I posed some questions on our electronic discussion lists for DO-IT Scholars, Ambassadors, and Mentors about social life in college. Some great ideas emerged. Below I have listed some of the responses, with minor editorial changes. Perhaps you, or someone you know, will find them helpful in preparing for college life.
DO-IT Scholars are high school students with disabilities who are interested in college, science, engineering, mathematics, or technology and have the aptitude for, and interest in attending college. Scholars participate in live-in summer sessions at the University of Washington and are loaned computers and adaptive technologies as needed. They must reside in the United States. Local travel in Seattle, room and board and academic accommodations are provided without charge. DO-IT is recruiting students who are Freshman now to be Scholars in 1997. Contact the DO-IT office for an application packet. The deadline for application submission for 1997 is December 31, 1996.
The Technology Tips column in the December 1995 issue of DO-IT News gave an overview of what the World Wide Web is and why it is such a powerful and flexible Internet resource. This issue's column discusses how to design Web pages that are accessible to all potential users, regardless of disability.
Web developers should be aware that a diverse group of people may visit your Web pages. Some visitors:
Perhaps the most important consideration in designing Web pages is to not require that a Web site visitor use a specific browser to access information. Numerous Web sites require the use of a particular version of Netscape. Though this is the most popular browser currently used, developers should acknowledge that it's not the only option. For Web site developers, accessibility to the maximum number of potential customers should be a top priority.
Many of the accessibility issues and tips described below make a favorable impression for all Web users, regardless of disabilities or special needs.
Caption: Dan Chats with Phase II Scholar Matthew at the 1995 Summer Study.
I am a 25-year-old male. I am both deaf and blind, and I come from
India. I am currently in an undergraduate program at University of
Arkansas at Little Rock, majoring in political science.
I was brought up in a village twenty miles south of Calcutta. The village is mostly filled with farmlands and forests. It has no paved roads, vehicles, or fancy markets but a few food bazaars. Eighty-five percent of its population lives in poverty and illiteracy. It does not mean they have no homes; they get free land on which they build huts from mud, hay, and bamboos. I feel gifted as I sometimes think how God has provided me with a wonderful family. Most people in this kind of culture would be too embarrassed to show their disabled children to the public.
When I was a child, I was not blind. I was only born deaf; why I am deaf is unknown. Fortunately, my parents are well educated and could understand that my needs were very special. At the age of two, my mother taught me how to speak Bengali, my native language. She used many artistic ways to describe how to make the sound of a letter by moving her lips and had me feel her throat for vibrations. I could then speak and lipread; people that understood me were the ones who had heard my voice often.
When I was six years old, I was sent to a school in Calcutta near my mother's family's house. As I was deaf, I had to sit in the front of teachers to be able to lipread what was said. I had a hard time there because the kids were mean and picked on me a lot as I could not hear. They made fun of my mistakes when I was trying to understand what the teachers were saying. The teachers also did not understand what was going on; they let this situation go on and on. At that time, I was too innocent to deal with the situation so instead I got really frustrated and behaved badly. The school got tired of me and expelled me after six months. I went back home to the village.
One day my mother decided to test my vision. She put her hand on my right eye and asked if I could see from my left eye. I said yes. Then she put her hand on my left eye. I was terribly shocked to learn that I could not see anything from my right eye! I was afraid to tell her the truth so I lied and said yes. She was clever enough to use an object before my eye and asked what it was. I said the name and she said wrong. So she told me not to worry about being blind in my right eye. Although she felt very sad, she was still glad to have discovered the problem I had. At this point, I froze into a deep thought about how this all happened. I then remembered something: I told my mother that I was digging soil one day some time ago with one older boy from my neighborhood. He accidentally threw the soil into my right eye. Maybe this was the cause that I lost sight in one eye, but I never realized this since I still could see in the other eye.
My father sent me to a hospital where I stayed for three months. Nothing succeeded; the doctor said that the retina had been badly damaged. So I went back home where I was admitted to a nearby school. At first this school did not accept me, because they thought I could not do what other students did. My father persistently persuaded the master of this school to let me in. I was then seven and half years old when I was in the first grade.
When I was half way through the second grade, I had a fight with a boy who decided to throw ash-like dirt into my eyes. Again, I was hurried to the hospital. The doctor could not get my sight back fully as the retina was already detached. I slowly became totally blind during a three-month period. I was so frightened and felt lost as I did not know how to live or move around freely without any sight. I had to quit school. After the accident, my young brother was born so it was tough for my family to handle many situations at a time.
During the next four-year period, my father tried to find a way for me to resume my education. Unfortunately, all the schools for the blind in India would not accept me as they had no provisions for working with deaf students. But with the grace of God, my father met a principal at a blind School who had gone to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts years ago. She told him that Perkins would be an excellent place for me to go.
Since the government in India would not aid me either financially or otherwise, the process in making arrangements for me to enter Perkins was complicated. However, Perkins very generously offered me scholarships for the time I was enrolled as a student there. Were I to have remained in India, I could never have succeeded going through school and making it to college, due to the paucity of services there.
In September 1983 my father and I came to the United States. He acted as my interpreter to translate from English to Bengali until I learned enough English to go on my own. So I busied myself learning English, Braille, and American Sign Language.
Coming to the United States has changed my life significantly. I still cannot believe how terrible a boy I was in the past. But at least I am now very happy with my life although I cannot see anything. Many great technologies here enabled me to be as independent as those who are hearing and sighted. When I think about all of that, I am even more surprised to realize that I am really in college where I am now majoring in political science! I am very grateful for what I have received and that the University of Arkansas has the accommodations necessary to facilitate my academic progress. I expect to earn a bachelors degree in May 1997 and then hopefully to go to law school.
Throughout my life, I have developed a strong interest in helping others who are in my situation. Knowing all about laws and becoming a lawyer myself, I want to be able to lobby and convince the government to look into the possibilities of establishing various services to meet the needs of people with disabilities. This includes my goal to work with those with disabilities to ensure their civil rights and equal opportunities for achievement.
Because of my strong interest in issues for persons with disabilities, I have traveled to many countries to attend conventions based on various perspectives toward problems encountered by deaf-blind people. I was once in Russia where I was asked to meet with commissioners of several agencies that worked to protect the rights of people with disabilities. This was where it led to my interest in becoming a lawyer.
As for my hobbies, I love computing, woodworking, traveling, obtaining new cultural experiences, creative writing, cooking, sewing, participating in sports, and the list goes on! At this time, I am mainly interested in traveling to different places to learn more about the perspectives that different parts of the world offer toward deaf-blindness.
If you have any questions, just ask me. I'm here to help you. I'm here as your friend if you need anything. Please feel free to email me anytime you need someone to talk to, to discuss problems with, to just "hang out" with over email. Hang in there, and take good care of yourselves!!! :)
All smiles!
Bapin
axbhatta@ualr.edu
Caption: DO-IT Mentor and Sumi Instructor Alan Jodock-King.
Caption: Phase III Scholar Anthony uses his head.
A great showing of DO-IT Scholars was present the night of August 14 of the 1995 DO-IT Summer Study session. Scholars were eager to change pace after a day of lectures and classes on the University of Washington campus. An enthusiastic group listened as I spoke about sumi art history with my electronic comunication device. My husband, Alan King, showed a slide collection of his work as an artist with a disability. Alan also speaks with an electronic device called the Liberator. Then the group got down to the real business of creating art. Sumi art painting was new to many of the students, but they all appeared to be having a great time. By using their mouths, feet, hands, or heads, the Scholars expressed themselves through the medium of black sumi paint and brushes of different sizes. Paint brushes were making straight lines, curved lines, along with thin and thick. Some students are natural born artists. We think they have the artistic capabilities to set up their own art show some day.
Caption: Phase II Scholar Shawnna creates her masterpiece.
Caption: DO-IT Mentor and Sumi Instructor Sharon Jodock-King gives some timps to Phase II Scholar Andrew
Wes, Phase II Scholar
Caption: DO-IT Mentor Dan Locke tries a new way of painting
You've heard of the DO-IT Scholars. You've heard of the DO-IT Campers. You've heard of the DO-IT Mentors. Well, watch out for the DO-IT Pals! DO-IT Pals form an electronic community of pre-college students from around the world with disabilities who support one another in their efforts to pursue college degrees and careers in science, engineering, mathematics and technology. They communicate with each other, get advice from DO-IT Mentors and participate in projects throughout the year. To become a DO-IT Pal you must:
Caption: Phase II Scholar Jorja enjoys her ride
While riding your bike on the Burke Gilman Trail near the University of Washington on August 17, 1995, you might have seen something a little different. You would have seen bikes with special adaptations. These special adaptations were made for people like me. People with various types of disabilities had a chance to ride bikes on the UW campus. It was one of many activities held for DO-IT Scholars. This activity gave us the opportunity to do the unimaginable.
Ski-For-All made this event possible. They customize their bikes to cater to different abilities. For someone with quadriplegia, they have a two person bike so one person can pedal and the other can enjoy the ride. People with no use of their legs can pedal with their hands. For unsteady people, they gave you a seatbelt. Most of the bikes have three wheels, so you don't have to worry about tipping over.
All of the DO-IT Scholars who participated that night said they had a blast. It also gave us some exercise. Thanks, Ski-For-All, for the use of the bikes. We appreciated it a lot.
Caption: Ambassador Eric rides along the Burke-Gilman Trail
Cartoon Laws of Physics
Cartoon Law I
Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation.
Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He
loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look
down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second
takes over.
Cartoon Law II
Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly.
Whether shot from a cannon or in hot pursuit on foot, cartoon
characters are so absolute in their momentum that only a telephone
pole or an outsize boulder retards their forward motion
absolutely. Sir Isaac Newton called this sudden termination of motion
the stooge's surcease.
Cartoon Law III
Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter.
Also called the silhouette of passage, this phenomenon is the
speciality of victims of directed-pressure explosions and of reckless
cowards who are so eager to escape that they exit directly through the
wall of a house, leaving a cookie-cutout-perfect hole. The threat of
skunks or matrimony often catalyzes this reaction.
Cartoon Law IV
The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken.
Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attempt to capture it
inevitably unsuccessful.
Cartoon Law V
All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel
them directly away from the earth's surface. A spooky noise or an
adversary's signature sound will induce motion upward, usually to the
cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of a flagpole. The
feet of a character who is running or the wheels of a speeding auto
need never touch the ground, especially when in flight.
Cartoon Law VI
As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once.
This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights, in which a
character's head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloud of
altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect is common as
well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled. A 'wacky'
character has the option of self-replication only at manic high speeds
and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocity required.
Cartoon Law VII
Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot.
This trompe l'oeil inconsistency has baffled generations, but at least
it is known that whoever paints an entrance on a wall's surface to
trick an opponent will be unable to pursue him into this theoretical
space. The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to
follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not of
science.
Cartoon Law VIII
Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent.
Cartoon cats possess even more deaths than the traditional nine lives
might comfortably afford. They can be decimated, spliced, splayed,
accordion-pleated, spindled, or disassembled, but they cannot be
destroyed. After a few moments of blinking self pity, they reinflate,
elongate, snap back, or solidify. Corollary: A cat will assume the
shape of its container.
Cartoon Law IX
Everything falls faster than an anvil.
Cartoon Law X
For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite revengeance.
This is the one law of animated cartoon motion that also applies to
the physical world at large. For that reason, we need the relief of
watching it happen to a duck instead.
Cartoon Law Amendment A
A sharp object will always propel a character upward.
When poked (usually in the buttocks) with a sharp object (usually a
pin), a character will defy gravity by shooting straight up, with
great velocity.
Cartoon Law Amendment B
The laws of object permanence are nullified for "cool" characters.
Characters who are intended to be "cool" can make previously
nonexistent objects appear from behind their backs at will. For
instance, the Road Runner can materialize signs to express himself
without speaking.
Cartoon Law Amendment C
Explosive weapons cannot cause fatal injuries.
They merely turn characters temporarily black and smoky.
Cartoon Law Amendment D
Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of large wavelengths.
Their operation can be witnessed by observing the behavior of a canine
suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feet will begin to fall
first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wave reaches its torso,
that part will begin to fall, causing the neck to stretch. As the head
begins to fall, tension is released and the canine will resume its
regular proportions until such time as it strikes the ground.
Cartoon Law Amendment E
Dynamite is spontaneously generated in "C-spaces" (spaces in which cartoon laws hold).
The process is analogous to steady-state theories of the universe
which postulated that the tensions involved in maintaining a space
would cause the creation of hydrogen from nothing. Dynamite quanta are
quite large (stick sized) and unstable (lit). Such quanta are
attracted to psychic forces generated by feelings of distress in
"cool" characters (see Amendment B, which may be a special case of
this law), who are able to use said quanta to their advantage. One may
imagine C-spaces where all matter and energy result from primal masses
of dynamite exploding. A big bang indeed.
Kids say the darndest things. Some grade school teachers must agree with that, because they keep journals of amusing things their students have written in papers. We've listed a few examples.
Len Burns and I have been setting up a MOO (an interactive site) on-line, called SerenityMOO that is mainly dedicated to making on-line access for those of us with disablities equal to those of us without. We've been running for almost three months now.
I'm very excited about a new project at SerenityMOO! Patrick Somers (known as LocalDude at Serenity) of Marysville, WA, had the novel idea of simulating blindness on-line and he made it so. Patrick himself is not blind, by the way. He created a room where you cannot identify a person by their name, but by a symbol. For instance, normally you would see "JennyLin says, Hiya all!". But in this room, you would see "$$Hiya all!$$". The point is to identify with the person by his or her MOOspeak (the way they type) or by his or her symbol, the way a blind person would identify with a voice and not a face. I was so incredibly thrilled with his invention, that I had to write this article to tell you all!
If you would like to visit this great invention first-hand, e-mail me
and I will gladly give you a character. SerenityMOO will later be
opened to the public.
jennylin@u.washington.edu
Caption: DO-IT Ambassador Rodney and Phase III Scholar Anthony "surf the 'Net" at Camp Courage
College Preview Camp is an opportunity for teens with physical disabilities and/or speech, hearing or visual impairments to get an introduction to college life and get hands on experience with the Internet. The session is offered through a partnership between the University of Washington's DO-IT project and Courage Center in Minnesota.
Campers learn to access the wealth of information and support that is available on the Internet. They participate in daily workshops on topics ranging from how to choose and apply to a college to how to take a college campus tour on the 'Net. Sheryl Burgstahler, DO-IT Director, will be providing most of the Internet instruction. Scholars Jenny and Anthony will be her assistants.
Collge Preview Camp is not all work and no play - it is camp after all! The schedule allows ample opportunity to participate in typical camp activities like horseback riding, overnight camping, fishing, swimming, and other camp programs such as parties, dances and more.
College Preview Camp is open to any young person who has completed seventh grade or higher and has college potential. Although Camp Courage primarily serves Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota, participants from other states are welcome. If you would like to know more about costs and other details regarding this or any Courage camping program, contact:
Courage Center Camping Department
3915 Golden Valley Road
Golden Valley, Minnesota 55422
Voice: (612) 520-0504
TTY: (612) 520-0245
Email: camping@MTN.org
The Hunthausen Humanitarian Award, established in 1991 by Archbishop of Western Washington, Thomas J. Murphy, is awarded to one who "has sought justice, loved kindly, and gently changed our world." Catholic Community Services recently presented the 1995 Hunthausen Humanitarian Award to CCS/King County Region, Douglas J. Lefever, a DO-IT Mentor from Seattle, WA.
Douglas shares his life experience as well as his trained abilities to improve the condition of many lives in Seattle be they homeless men or disabled teens. Utilizing his M.A. in Psychotherapy and B.S. in Business, Douglas volunteers 33 hours a week at St. Martin's on Westlake, helping men integrate into society after years of living on the street. Douglas assists with the accounting procedures of their Giving Tree program, and is on their board. He is also a Mentor in the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technologies) Program at the University of Washington, preparing students for college and life on their own via the Internet. Douglas has Cerebral Palsy (a lack of oxygen during birth damaged the part of his brain that controls motor skills). He also finds time to give talks and direct teams for the RCIA program, Teens/Adults Encounter Christ (TEC). He is a board member of United Cerebral Palsy of King and Snohomish Counties. Douglas chairs the Program Committee and is on the Executive Committee. Douglas is the first disabled President of the Puget Sound Area Chapter of Colorado University's Alumni Association. The chapter has over 2,000 members. Douglas is a native of Longmont, Colorado, and was the first Longmont High disabled graduate. Six years ago he moved to Seattle.
You know that we all are guilty of passing over tattered books and picking up pristine ones. This applies to people, too. In my work and in my own life I've seen it happen. Quite frankly, it hurts to be passed over. If we just open our horizons to view each one as a potential gift then miracles will happen.
In the film, Brother Sun and Sister Moon, St. Francis was building a church. Everyone was hustling and building, when he saw a disabled boy that couldn't do anything except talk with his eyes. St. Francis knew, by his eye movements that he had a talent for angles. So, every time St. Francis needed help figuring out slopes or angles, he would look at this boy and ask. We need to develop this human skill to enable every one to reach their potential.
This award challenges me, and I hope you to change and expand our horizons - inch by inch, and step by step. Through this we will be better able to serve our brothers and sisters.
On Tuesday, December 12th, 1995, a windstorm hit the Northwest with enough destructive power in some places to be christened "Windstorm '95". While relating their various experiences with the storm, DO-IT Scholars and Mentors began an enlightening discussion over electronic mail on windstorms, hurricanes, and weather patterns. Atmospheric scientist and DO-IT Mentor Imke Durre shared her expertise on this subject.
Hurricanes form over the warm ocean waters of the tropics, only when water is warmer than 82 degrees. The water that evaporates from the ocean condenses into clouds, thereby releasing the heat which drives the hurricane. When such a storm is in its beginning stage, it is called a tropical depression. When its winds exceed 39 mph, it becomes a tropical storm; when the wind speeds become greater than 74 mph, the storms are hurricanes.
A hurricane has an eye at its center, in which conditions are calm. The eye is surrounded by tall thunderclouds. Once a tropical storm has formed, it may move out of the tropics into mid-latitudes. Such storms usually travel from east to west across an ocean because the winds which steer them tend to come from the east in the tropics. This explains why hurricanes generally make landfall on the eastern edge of continents.
The storm that hit us on Tuesday did not form this way. It was an extratropical storm which formed due to strong north-to-south temperature differences near Hawaii, where cold air from the north tends to collide with warm air from the tropics at this time of year. Extratropical storms do not have eyes, and their clouds are low- to middle-level stratus clouds, not the deep thunderclouds. They travel from west to east because winds in the mid-latitudes generally come from the west. As we found out, these storms can get rather strong, too.
DO-IT Mentor Michael Herbert then wrote:
I find weather completely fascinating, and as a sailor I'm quite
intrigued by it's implications. Here's a question to stimulate some
though, as well as to initiate another great DO-IT email debate. Can
anyone tell me how wind happens? And how come it was so strong last
night?
At this point in the discussion, Ed Pottharst, DO-IT Career Mentor, interjected the question:
Why does air go counterclockwise around low pressure centers and
clockwise around high ones (in the Northern hemisphere)?
If you picture a circle as a low, with the lowest pressure in the center, then air will want to move towards the center in an attempt to balance out the difference in the pressure between the area outside the low and the center of the low. But the Coriolis force pulls the inward-moving air to the right of its direction of motion. Since the force due to the pressure difference (called pressure gradient force) and the Coriolis force are acting constantly, the air ends up moving counterclockwise around the low. It may help you to draw a circle and an arrow pointing towards the center and then imagine what will happen when the tip of the arrow gets pushed to the right. Or, if you are into physics, you can think of it as a force balance between the inward-pulling pressure gradient force, the Coriolis force acting 90 degrees to the right of the pressure gradient force, and an outward-pushing centripetal force which starts to act once the air is circling around the center. The centripetal force is the force that pulls your outward when you sit on a merry-go-round.
This exchange is an example of how easy it is to carry on a conversation on the 'Net. And, you can learn something in the process!
8:30 or so, the wind really got going. It was blowing and whistling and just being obnoxious, and I DID NOT WANT TO BE BY THE WINDOW. It was pretty scary, but thankfully, nothing broke and the power didn't go out either.
-Anna
adaptive (é -dap'tiv) adj. technology (tê k -nô l'è -jee) n. Specialized equipment and software that allows people with disabilities to use computers and networks.
DID-IT (did-it) n. Past tense of DO-IT.
Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology, a project to increase the participation of people with disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics academic programs and careers.
DO-IT Ambassador (doo-it- am-bas'é -dé r, -dô r') n. A previous Scholar who graduated from high school and now continues to participate in DO-IT by helping the program and guiding younger Scholars.
DO-IT Mentor (doo-it- më n'tô r', -tè r) n. An adult who is in college or career who helps Scholars and Ambassadors as they pursue academics and careers. The address of their discussion list is mentors@u.washington.edu.
DO-IT News (doo-it- nooz, nyooz) n. The DO-IT newsletter that features stories, articles, and events about the DO-IT program, participants, and disability-related issues.
DO-IT Summer Study (doo-it- sû m'é r- stû d'ee) n. A live-in summer program at the University of Washington in Seattle where DO-IT Scholars participate in science, engineering, and mathematics lectures and labs; live in residence halls; and practice skills which will help them to be independent and successful in college and careers.
doitkids (doo-itkids) n. The name of the electronic list that includes DO-IT Scholars and Ambassadors. The full address is doitkids@u.washington.edu.
doitsem (doo-itsê m') n. The discussion
list for anyone interested in promoting the inclusion of people with
disabilities in science, engineering, and mathematics programs and
careers. The Internet address is
doitsem @u.washington.edu
You can join the list by sending a message to
listproc@u.washington.edu
In the message text type "subscribe doitsem" followed by your name.
NSF (en- es- ef) n. The National Science Foundation. A grant from NSF funds DO-IT operations.
Phase I Scholar (fâ z- wû n- skö l'é r) n. A high school student from the time he/she is accepted into the DO-IT Scholars program through the completion of their first Summer Study at the University of Washington.
Phase II Scholar (fâ z- too- skö l'é r) n. Phase I graduates who continue their DO-IT participation through the second Summer Study at the University of Washington.
Phase III Scholar (fâ z- three-skö l'é r ) n. Phase II graduates who retain this title until they attend college and become a DO-IT Ambassador.
You can DO-IT! (yoo- kan; ken when unstressed- doo-it) The DO-IT motto.
DO-IT NEWS is published at the University of Washington with input from the staff, Scholars, Ambassadors, and Mentors of DO-IT. The College of Engineering and Computing & Communications coordinate the program. DO-IT is primarily funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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