Phase II Scholar Eric uses one of the Reel Grrl animation stations to create a cut-paper video during Summer Study 2013.

For far too long, the media has portrayed people with disabilities in egregiously false stereotypes. People with disabilities are neither to be pitied nor feared, but are a valuable addition to the lexicon of characters available to screenwriters today. People with disabilities deserve a better portrayal in the media.

Reel Grrls, the after school nonprofit media program for youth headquartered in Seattle, has decided to make that happen. "Not only do we show students how people with disabilities are portrayed in the media, but our partnership with DO-IT allows us to have students with a disability make media," Reel Grrls program director Monica Olsson said. To that end, Reel Grrls held a weeklong workshop on disabilities in the media. The participants learned about the portrayal of disabilities in the media and worked in groups to create videos centered around that topic, correct stereotypes, and educate the public.

Phase II Scholars Jennifer, Dominique, and Cody created a live action video about what to say and not to say to people in a wheelchair. "Most of the scenarios in this video come from our personal experience," Cody said. "People often ask us questions that are disrespectful. People ask us if they can ride in our chairs. We want to teach people how to talk to people in wheelchairs and how not to talk to them." Phase II Scholars Eric and Hannah worked together to make a short video on how people view people with disabilities participating in sports.

Societal trends are both reflected on and gleaned from the media, sometimes creating a vicious cycle of stereotypes and prejudice. The videos made in this workshop will not solve the problem in one fell swoop, but they may pave the way for more positive, accurate, and enlightened portrayals, one that will be beneficial not just for people with disabilities, but also for those without.

OASST instructor, Liz, helps phase II DO-IT scholar, Mikayla, measure the beak of a bird to help identify what type of bird it is.

Phase II Scholars Nolan, Alex, Lindsay, Peter, and Mikayla participated in the Our Environment! Earth, Sea, and Space workshop. Each day held a different topic of study. On Monday, we focused on weather and climate, which included running a simple climate model on our laptops. On Tuesday, we explored concepts in oceanography and global warming with an oceanographer from the Polar Science Center. One cool experiment was to determine water level changes by melting ice in water.

Wednesday involved earth and space science. Through one experiment we charted the rate of speed of avalanches, icebergs, and mudflows. By allowing liquid nitrogen to build up pressure in a water bottle that was taped to a cylinder block and placed in a plastic garbage can, we were able to observe this explosion.

Our last day involved seabirds and marine ecology through the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team program. After learning about ecology, using wings, feet, and beaks, we were able to identify sea birds using a field guide. 

Phase II DO-IT Scholar, Jessica, looks through a microscope in the Neurobiology lab.

Phase II Scholars, Allison, Jessica, Lucas, Aaliyah, Alicia and Grace participated in a neurobiology workshop. They had the opportunity to participate in two labs on campus. They spent time studying the effects of different drugs on the heart and brain of embryonic mice and the reaction of roach legs to different stimulation. Both of these labs allowed the Scholars to experience real college lab settings. In addition to what they learned in each lab, they had the opportunity to advocate for themselves with university staff.