Daughters with Disabilities: Breaking Down Barriers

Abstract

Daughters with Disabilities has been created to address the fact that individuals with disabilities, especially girls, are widely under-served and under-educated in the areas of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The program is designed to encourage more girls with disabilities to prepare for the careers in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology that will dominate the 21st century. This paper describes a program that is breaking down barriers for girls with disabilities in special education settings who are currently educated in an urban public school district. It discusses a summary of the findings of a Demonstration Project funded by the National Science Foundation, while also continuing the dialogue of the challenges faced by both regular and special educators in terms of appropriate science, mathematics, and technology instruction for special needs learners in elementary classrooms.