Introduction to DO-IT by Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)

>>Sheryl: What we're trying 
to do in the DO-IT Center is

to help students with disabilities

be successful in college and careers,

but also using technology as an empowering tool.

I founded the DO-IT program in 1992

with a grant from the National Science Foundation,

and the idea was to help students 
with disabilities from high school,

transition to college, into 
graduate school and onto careers.

We have summer programs 
for teens with disabilities

to get ready for college.

We have an online mentoring program

and we work with faculty to help 
them make their courses accessible

and technology companies 
in making their technology

accessible to people with disabilities

and even with parents, to help their children

with disabilities prepare for adult life.

>>Scott: One of the things that 
makes the DO-IT Center unique

is that we embrace students with 
a wide variety of disabilities

and so as we engage in all of our activities,

students learn about one another's challenges

and the access barriers that they face.

>>Sheryl: Many of our projects are funded

by the National Science Foundation,

for example, AccessComputing.

We work with computing faculty nationwide

to help them include students
with disabilities in their programs.

We have a similar project
called AccessEngineering,

where we work with engineering faculty.

Another project that we have is called AccessISL,
Informal Science Learning and

there we're working with people 
that develop museum exhibits,

helping them make them more accessible 
to people with disabilities.

The DO-IT Scholars program

is where we work with teens with disabilities,

to get them ready for college and careers.

>>Scott: The DO-IT Scholars program draws students

from all over the State.

And we really work with each 
student to help them identify

what post-secondary experience will 
be best for them and their family.

What we find most important 
is to talk with that student,

about what they are interested 
in, where they want to go,

and help them go there.

For the DO-IT Scholars program, we'd like 
to start engaging students and families

when they're sophomores in high school.

We invite them to come and live with us

on the University campus for three summers:

after their sophomore year, 
after their junior year,

and then as they're graduating high school.

When the DO-IT Scholars are at summer camp,

they take a lot of classes and courses with us

and so some of those are related 
to leadership and advocacy.

Some of those are related 
to different career fields

that they might want to learn about

and some of it is related to college access

and how to advocate for what you 
might need in a college environment.

>>Kat: We always love working 
with the DO-IT Scholars.

They bring energy, creativity and innovation

to every program, whether it's 
the classroom, a summer program

or another event going on on campus.

AccessEngineering is a program 
where our goals are to both

encourage more individuals with disabilities 
to pursue careers in engineering

and to also train all of our engineers in
principles of universal design.

AccessEngineering has partnered tightly 
with the DO-IT Center and the Scholars.

Each summer we run instructional 
programs to help the DO-IT Scholars

explore different career paths in engineering.

However, the DO-IT Scholars also have 
helped us immensely in making the campus,

and in particular, engineering, more inclusive.

>>Scott: For their third summer, 
as high school graduates,

many of whom have been accepted into college,

they work as leaders and 
mentors to the younger students

who are with us for the summer.

>>Randy: I was one of the first DO-IT Scholars.

The mentorship that I had early on from DO-IT

was sufficient to show me how 
to actually mentor people

and that has specifically influenced 
my career because I manage people now.

>>Rochelle: What my high 
school didn't necessarily have

and the DO-IT program did was a community

that focused on disability empowerment.

It's very nice to finally be in a community

where I didn't feel as 
isolated as I did in the past.

>>Anita: The DO-IT Scholars program taught me

that I really need to be 
willing to advocate for myself,

not just out in the typical everyday world,

but in classes with professors and saying,

That's not going to work for me 
or I really need my extended time.

>>Kayla: I got into the program 
when I was a junior in high school

and that was the first time that I 
met other people with disabilities who

wanted to go to college, who had expectations

that they were gonna go to college.

and were thinking about a career even beyond.

>>Sheryl: I've hired a lot of people in my
life,

and I've never hired them 
because of what they can't do.

It's always because of what they can do

and the DO-IT program, these 
kids have an opportunity

to meet adults that see their opportunities before them

and figure out how they can 
maximize the use of those skills and

interests they have to be successful.