DO-IT and the Land of the Midnight Sun!

Scott Bellman

This summer the State of Alaska held its first annual state-wide conference on assistive technology (AT). The conference, called the Midnight Sun Assistive Technology Conference, was attended by educators, service providers, vocational rehabilitation specialists, employers, and the public. DO-IT hosted an exhibit with materials about accessible technology and universal design for education and employment. AccessSTEM team member Amanda worked at this conference as part of a paid internship.

Dan Comden, manager of our UW Access Technology Lab, delivered a presentation called "Supporting Accessibility at the University of Washington," where he talked about AT and the accessibility of online content delivery—such as websites. I delivered a presentation called "Opening Doors: Mentoring on the Internet" and co-facilitated a panel discussion called "College Preparation and College Success."

Conference attendees stopped by our exhibit to thank DO-IT for internships, mini-grants, resources, and training materials in Alaska. These activities were funded as part of AccessSTEM by the Research in Disabilities Education Program of the National Science Foundation, cooperative agreement HRD-0227995. Thank you NSF for making opportunities in STEM available to students in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington through AccessSTEM.