The UW’s Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT) program offers new opportunities to high school students with disabilities by providing tools for higher education and opening career pathways.

Students in the DO-IT program are either sophomores or juniors in high school and have mobility, sensory or health impairments or a learning disability. About 20 students are chosen each year.

The program targets students interested in participating in higher-level academic programs, specifically in the fields of science, engineering, mathematics and technology.

“We’re trying to increase the success of disabled students in careers and in college,” said DO-IT director Sheryl Burgstahler.

The program introduces high school students — known as DO-IT scholars — to technology, work-based learning and peer support.

“We use technology as a power tool,” Burgstahler said.

The program uses a group mentor system, pairing a set of students with mentors who help them learn how to use new technologies and methods of learning key to their success.

DO-IT scholars also attend live-in summer study programs at the UW.

The purpose is to teach students to use technology that will help them be more independent in their studies, Burgstahler said.

“I experienced barriers and stereotypes growing up,” said Program Manager Michael Richardson, who is hearing impaired. “DO-IT allows me to be the mentor for younger students that I never had.”

Richardson said college and university life doesn’t provide the same support to students as high school programs.

“Students have a lot of support in high school from special education programs,” Richardson said. “However, in college, the students themselves are responsible for their own success.”

Some students lose motivation because of the lack of support at the college level, Richardson said.

“Unfortunately, this stops many students from getting the education or jobs that are best for them,” Richardson said.

DO-IT has been very successful in its mission of helping students with disabilities, with more than 90 percent of students who enrolled as sophomores now in college or holding college degrees.

The program launches them into a wide variety of careers in multiple fields, Burgstahler said.

“Jobs range from physical therapists to computer technologists to programmers,” she said.

In October 2006, the UW received a $170,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support its AccessSTEM Capacity-Building Institute. DO-IT is the lead agency of this foundation, according to the DO-IT Web site.

The purpose for the grant is to promote the participation of people with disabilities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The money will be used for the UW to collaborate with AccessSTEM CBI partners at a Capacity-Building Institute Jan. 10-12, share the results of the forum with other programs that serve underrepresented groups in STEM, and offer grants to increase diversity in groups participating in the CBI.

Partners include New Mexico State University, the University of Southern Maine and the University of Wisconsin.

The program’s high success rate has earned DO-IT numerous awards, including the President’s Award of Excellence in Mentoring in 1997 and the National Information Infrastructure Award in Education.

DO-IT is a collaboration of UW Computing & Communications, the College of Engineering and the College of Education, according to the DO-IT Web site. Funding is provided by the NSF, the State of Washington and the U.S. Department of Education.

“Disability shouldn’t be a barrier to accomplishing great things,” Richardson said.

Reach contributing writer Chaitra Sriram at development@thedaily.washington.edu