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Peer and Mentor Support for People with Disabilities - An Effective Use of the Internet

by Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph. D., University of Washington

Web Posted on: November 22, 1997

Children and youth are influenced by the social interactions they experience with peers and adults. Social isolation is often reported as a condition that inhibits the academic and career growth of children and youth with disabilities. The impact of their disabilities can sometimes result in lower levels of social support from peers and mentors than they might experience if they did not have disabilities. Some experience difficulties with respect to transportation, oral communication, scheduling, and participation in activities that require physical or sensory skills that they do not possess.

Most of us have had people in our lives who provided information, encouragement, or advice which impacted decisions we made. Their expressed interest in our development may have had a profound influence on our academic, career and personal choices. They may have been peers or older, more experienced "mentors." Most people would agree that mentoring and peer support have the potential to enhance the personal, academic, and career success of students. In particular, students with disabilities can benefit from role models who have similar interests and disabilities. Usually, peer and mentor relationships are initiated and sustained through in-person contact. However, physical distance and time constraints make such interactions difficult to orchestrate. Electronic communication can enhance the peer and mentor support received by children and youth with disabilities. Such communication can occur without the restrictions imposed by time; distance; and the ability to speak, hear or move.

Peer and mentor support over the Internet network is part of an innovative program called DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology), which began in 1992. Directed by the University of Washington and primarily funded by the National Science Foundation, DO-IT makes extensive use of computers, adaptive technology and the Internet to increase the successful participation of people with disabilities in academic programs and careers in science, engineering, and mathematics. In 1995, DO-IT was selected for the National Information Infrastructure Award in Education for its innovative use of the Internet in education.

A key component of DO-IT is electronic mentoring and peer support. Through electronic communications over the Internet high school students with disabilities who are part of the DO-IT Scholars and DO-IT Pals programs form bonds with each other and are brought together with "DO-IT Mentors." DO-IT Mentors are college students, faculty, practicing engineers and scientists, most with disabilities themselves. They help stimulate their protoges' interests in science, engineering and mathematics. DO-IT Scholars and Pals come from all over the United states and Mentors reside throughout the world. When DO-IT Scholars and DO-IT Pals graduate from high school they become DO-IT Ambassadors and share their post-secondary experiences with younger Scholars.

While most communication occurs via electronic mail, Scholars meet each other and some Mentors meet their protoges during special summer study programs for Scholars on the campus of the University of Washington. DO-IT Scholars who have a chance to meet their Mentors and fellow Scholars in person as well as electronically have the best of both worlds! On the other hand, DO-IT Pals are only part of the electronic community sponsored by DO- IT and usually do not meet one another or their mentors in person.

Mentors are valuable resources to DO-IT Scholars and Pals. As guides, counselors and friends, they inspire and facilitate academic, career and personal achievements. DO-IT Mentors offer protoges and peers often offer each other. . .

  • Information. Mentors share their knowledge, experiences and wisdom.
  • Contacts. Mentors provide valuable opportunities by facilitating academic, career and personal contacts.
  • Challenges. Mentors stimulate curiosity and build confidence by presenting new ideas, opportunities and challenges.
  • Support. Mentors encourage growth and achievement by providing an open and supportive environment.
  • Goal Setting. Mentors help protoges discover talents and interests and define and attain their goals.
  • Advice. Mentors guide protoges in reaching academic, career and personal goals.
  • Role Models. Mentors accomplish many of these goals by letting their protoges know who they are.

There are probably as many mentoring styles as there are personality types. Each Mentor develops their own personal style for sharing their special insights and skills. Each DO-IT Scholar benefits from contact with several Mentors. They also perform some of the mentoring functions for one another as they encourage and support the efforts of their peers to be successful in college and careers.

To get started, DO-IT Mentors are encouraged to:

  • Get to know their protoges, asking them about personal interests; interests in science, mathematics, or engineering; and career goals.
  • Provide an introduction to protoges, which includes personal interests, academic interests, and career pursuits/plans.
  • Explore interests with protoges by asking questions, promoting discussion, providing resources (especially those accessible on the Internet).
  • Encourage participation in DO-IT-sponsored or other science activities.
  • Facilitate contact between students and people with shared interests or resources (including professors, service providers, and professionals).

Four electronic discussion lists facilitate relationships between DO-IT Scholars, Pals, Mentors and others.

doitkids@u.washington.edu
doitpals@u.washington.edu
mentors@u.washington.edu
doitsem@u.washington.edu

The first one, doitkids, includes all DO-IT Scholars and Ambassadors. The second one, doitpals, includes those in the DO-IT Pals program. On these lists, students carry on group discussions and develop peer relationships. The interactions on this group are lively and frequent. The mentors list includes all of the DO-IT Mentors. They discuss issues of special interest to the Mentors of the DO-IT project. Messages from the doitkids or doitpals lists or from individual Scholars, Ambassadors, and staff are often forwarded to this list for discussion and response. Discussions that involve all of the members of mentors and doitkids are carried on simply by addressing messages to both lists. Smaller mentoring groups ("Mentoring Teams") are also established for more personal support. Each new Scholar is assigned to a small group of participants that include older Scholars, Ambassadors, and Mentors who share common interests and accommodation issues.

The doitsem discussion list includes all of the members of the doitkids and mentors lists as well as anyone else interested in issues related to the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in science, engineering and mathematics academic and career fields. Anyone can join doitsem by sending an electronic mail message to listproc@u.washington.edu. Leave the subject line blank and include as the text of the message "subscribe doitsem YourFirstName YourLastName."

DO-IT also maintains an information "library" of materials as well as links to other sites at http://weber.u.washington.edu/~doit/ on the World Wide Web. Check out this site for DO-IT newsletters and brochures, procedures for applying to be a DO-IT Scholar or Mentor, links to disability-related resources, and information about making Web pages accessible to individuals with disabilities.

DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) provides an example of a successful electronic community which provides peer and mentor support to individuals with disabilities. DO-IT's electronic community has characteristics in common with other successful networks, including those found in a study conducted by Riel and Levin (1990, Building electronic communities: Success and failure in computer networking. Instructional Science, Vol. 19, pp. 145-169). They found that successful electronic communities have the following characteristics:

  • Participants work closely and actively with each other but are geographically separated;
  • All participants have easy and equal access to the network;
  • There is community pressure to read and respond to mail regularly and in a timely manner;
  • Asynchronous group communication (parties are not online at the same time) is more efficient for this group than other types of communication;
  • There is a mutually shared goal or well-specified task to accomplish;
  • There is a facilitator or moderator to encourage group interaction and planning;
  • There is a group structure; and
  • There are established goals.

In conclusion, peer and mentoring communication that takes place on the information superhighway do not have the restrictions imposed by distance, schedule, and disability that exist with face-to-face mentoring. DO-IT has demonstrated the potential the Internet offers for counteracting the social isolation and lack of information and encouragement often faced by individuals with disabilities. However, the potential can only be realized when people with disabilities have access to computers, adaptive technology, and the Internet network. Such access is far from universal today. It will take many special efforts like DO-IT to make the vision of electronic mentoring a reality for many.

DO-IT Resources

Useful videotapes, handouts, and electronic resources are made available through the DO-IT project. They can help those who are in the process of creating an electronic community or would like to make an existing community more successful.

DO-IT
University of Washington
4545 15th Avenue NE, Room 206
Seattle, WA 98105
Voice/TDD (206) 685-DOIT
FAX (206) 685-4045
doit@u.washington.edu
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~doit/

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