DO-IT News March 1996: All Articles

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.

Bapin Axbhatta

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

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:

• be a high school freshman, sophomore, or junior
• have access to a computer and the Internet
• be interested in attending a 2- or 4-year college
• have interests in science, engineering, mathematics or technology
• want to communicate with and work together with other students with disabilities who have common interests

Contact the DO-IT office for a DO-IT Pal application packet.

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.

DO-IT is proud to announce our newest videotape, College: You can do it!. It features students with disabilities sharing their experiences of transitioning from high school to college. Included with the videotape is a brochure summarizing the content of the video and a handout profiling the speakers. This packet would be useful for students with disabilities who would like to go to college; parents; teachers; and service providers. If you would like to order this, or any DO-IT videotape, fill out the Video Order Form and send it to DO-IT, 4545 15th Ave. NE., Room 206, Seattle, WA 98105-4527.

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

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.

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?

I'm sure you have heard weather forecasters talk about lows and highs. In a low, the pressure is lower than average, and in a high, pressure is higher than average. Wind is a response to such differences in pressure. Near the surface, winds usually blow from high pressure to low pressure. Air tends to circulate around centers of high or low pressure. In the Northern hemisphere, air goes around lows in a counterclockwise direction, and around highs in a clockwise direction. As the pressure inside a low falls, the wind circulating around the low strengthens. Since the pressure inside yesterday's storm was really low, the winds were very strong. And because the low moved up along the coast west of us, and the air goes around it in a counterclockwise sense, we had south winds.

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)?

The reason for counterclockwise circulation around lows and clockwise circulation around highs is the Earth's rotation. Because of the Earth's rotation, things in motion are pushed to the right of their path in the Northern hemisphere and to the left in the Southern hemisphere. This force is called the Coriolis force. Its magnitude is rather small, so that it only becomes significant for large-scale motions like those in highs and lows.

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!

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Volume 4, Number 1

Below are the articles of the DO-IT News March 1996 newsletter. These articles can also be seen all on one page at the Full Newsletter option.

Twenty-Second Annual UW Computer Fair
March 13-14, 1996

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. DO-IT will have booths and presentations at this annual fair which offers seminars and displays from 160 exhibitors to over 16,000 attendees. All Fair activities are free. For more information contact the UW Computer Fair, (206) 685-3648 or email compfair@u.washington.edu

Math Day
March 18, 1996

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Sixth annual conference for high school students to learn how mathematics can be exciting, practical and rewarding. Keynote address by Dr. Leroy Hood, professor of molecular biotechnology, UW. For information, call UW Extension (206) 543-2320.

Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference
March 19-23, 1996

Presentation by DO-IT including distribution of videotapes and publications. For more information contact CSU-Northridge Center on Disabilities, Northridge, California.

Post-Secondary Transition for Students with Disabilities
March 21, 1996

Seattle Central Community College, Seattle, Washington. DO-IT co-sponsors this program with Puget Sound Educational Service District. For more information contact Aurora Huerta (206) 439-6911.

Assets '96 ACM/SIGCAPH Conference
April 11-12, 1996

Vancouver, Canada. A forum where researchers and developers from academia and industry meet to exchange ideas and report on new developments relating to computer-based systems to help people with disabilities and others with special needs. For information contact Ephraim P. Glinert at (518) 276-2657 or glinert@cs.rpi.edu.

PAVE Workshop on Community Liason Training
April 12-13, 1996

This workshop, by PAVE's Parent to Parent Training Project, will assist parents in preparing for IEP meetings. PAVE's Community Liasons are parents who volunteer their time, experience, and knowledge to help other parents. For information contact Washington PAVE, 6316 S. 12th St., Tacoma, WA 98465-1900, (800) 5-PARENT (Voice/TTY).

Engineering Open House
April 19-20, 1996

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Event sponsored by the UW Engineering Department highlighting engineering programs and departments. For information, email bedell@engr.washington.edu

Pacific Northwest Technology Conference and Expo
April 24-27, 1996

Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, Washington. For information contact WTAC Convention Services NW, 8511 15th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98115, (206) 526-1240 (Voice/TTY), or electhiway@aol.com or wta@applelink.apple.com.

NCCE Conference
April 24-27, 1996

Portland, Oregon. Regional conference about educational applications of computer and network technologies. For more information contact NCCE, P.O. Box 672, Wenatchee, WA 98807 (541) 346-3537.

Preparing for the Transition to College
April 27, 1996.

Spokane, Washington. A workshop co-sponsored by DO-IT. For information contact WATA/Easter Seals, West 606 Sharp, Spokane, WA 99201, (509) 328-9350 or (800) 214-8731.

NECC Conference
June 9-13, 1996

Minneapolis, Minnesota. National conference about educational applications of computer and network technologies. For information contact NECC '96/TIES, 2665 Long Lake Road, Suite 250, Roseville, MN 55113-2535, (612) 638-8764, necc96@ties.k12.mn.us