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    Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences
    Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences
    Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences
    Ebook791 pages7 hours

    Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences

    By Mahadeo A. Sukhai and Chelsea E. Mohler

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    About this ebook

    Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences provides insights and advice on integrating students with disabilities into the STEM fields. Each chapter features research and best practices that are interwoven with experiential narratives.

    The book is reflective of the diversity of STEM disciplines (life and physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics), and is also reflective of cross-disability perspectives (physical, sensory, learning, mental health, chronic medical and developmental disabilities).

    It is a useful resource for STEM faculty and university administrators working with students with disabilities, as well as STEM industry professionals interested in accommodating employees with disabilities.

    • Offers a global perspective on making research or work spaces accessible for students with disabilities in the STEM fields
    • Discusses best practices on accommodating and supporting students and demonstrates how these practices can be translated across disciplines
    • Enhances faculty knowledge of inclusive teaching practices, adaptive equipment, accessibility features, and accommodations in science laboratories, which would enable the safe participation of students with disabilities
    • Provides advice for students with disabilities on disclosure and mentoring
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAcademic Press
    Release dateNov 29, 2016
    ISBN9780128040867
    Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences
    Author

    Mahadeo A. Sukhai

    University of Toronto and Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada

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      Book preview

      Creating a Culture of Accessibility in the Sciences - Mahadeo A. Sukhai

      2016

      Part I

      Students with Disabilities in the Sciences

      Outline

      1 The landscape for students with disabilities in the sciences

      2 Accessibility in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the global perspective

      1

      The landscape for students with disabilities in the sciences

      Abstract

      This chapter highlights the current landscape faced by students with disabilities in the sciences, and also describes the importance of dialogue around the experience of these students. Here, we review the scientific training pipeline and discuss the glass ceilings that exist in that pipeline for students with disabilities. We also introduce the concept of a culture of accessibility in the sciences and in science education, and define practical space environments for students in the sciences.

      Keywords

      STEM education; culture of accessibility; STEM training pipeline; glass ceiling; international landscape; student as educator; practical spaces

      Chapter Outline

      Introduction 4

      Some key terms 5

      Exclusive, segregated, integrated, and inclusive education 6

      Differences between undergraduate and graduate laboratory environments 7

      Work in the Academic Environment 8

      Participation of students with disabilities in the sciences 8

      Glass ceilings in the STEM training pipeline 10

      What is a culture of accessibility? 11

      Definition of practical space environments 12

      Application of best practices across disciplines 12

      Previous forays in accessibility and STEM 13

      Conclusion 14

      I grew up wanting to be a scientist.

      This was a dream that was ignited within me when I was four, a partially sighted child in the Caribbean. In that time, in that place, it must’ve seemed an impossible dream to those I cheerfully announced it to.

      That didn’t matter to me– after all, what four year old (disability or no) cares for or about impossibilities?

      On my way to the fulfillment of that dream, I navigated difficult transitions in emigrating to North America, in transitioning into high school, into university, between scientific disciplines as an undergraduate student, into my Master’s, into my Doctoral program, and then into what has become a very varied career. On my way to the fulfillment of that dream, I broke records for the youngest high school student in my area, and became the youngest student to attend my university.

      I didn’t set out to do those things in the beginning.

      I set out to be a scientist.

      The best one I could be, in fact – and the rest of it was incidental.

      When I was young, the concept of a glass ceiling meant nothing to me. If you asked me, I would’ve said you found them in greenhouses and they were good for keeping in the warmth.

      As I began to work more in the spaces surrounding higher education and diversity, I learned and then understood the term more intimately. And I realized I had, in fact, in my education and my career, plowed my way through quite a few of them. I also realized that a lot of other people hadn’t ever made it that far – or, perhaps, hadn’t tried.

      I wondered about that – after all, I didn’t think I was all that special. I’d taken advantage of opportunities that had come my way, and I have had phenomenal teachers over the years, but surely others had too?

      The barriers I have faced in my training and career in the sciences are, I have learned, typical for students with disabilities in these fields – in some ways, that’s a bit sad, because I’d begun my training in the sciences well before the current cohorts of students. We will talk about those barriers – about educator attitudes and available resources, about the gatekeeper function and the assumptions people make, about the value and importance of good educators and good mentorship, and about our own attitudes and perceptions as people with disabilities learning the sciences.

      These are all systemic issues to some degree, to be sure – but they are also eminently solvable, and, for me, they were solvable because of people who were willing to work with me to talk them through and to figure out where and when and how to push.

      That was how the glass ceilings broke for me.

      I think, for those of us in fields where we are not expected to be, or to succeed, the most powerful message we can receive is one that says We are not alone. And, in reality, we are not – there is an increasing number of people with disabilities moving through training in the sciences, and this number will only increase over time.

      I grew up wanting to be a scientist, never dreaming where that career would eventually take me.

      I know now that others have that dream also.

      Everyone deserves to live it, as I have.

      Introduction

      Why Write a Book Like This?

      Education and employment are enshrined as rights of persons with disabilities in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD; Articles 24 and 27). The right to full inclusion and participation in society includes the opportunity to obtain an education in all disciplines important to the world’s progress today, including the sciences.

      Many of the science-based careers in today’s evolving economy require at least the completion of a first-year university chemistry course (McDaniel, Wolf, Mahaffy, & Teggins, 1994). Furthermore, science is the basis of an increasing proportion of workforce opportunities (Hilliard, Dunston, McGlothin, & Duerstock, 2011). In addition to the science requirements for those pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), it is typical of postsecondary institutions to require nonscience majors to complete at least one science credit, aimed at educating the nonscientist (Pence, Workman, & Riecke, 2003).

      As opportunities in technical and medical fields continue to grow, all students—including persons with disabilities—need a strong education in science to achieve their career goals. Additionally, learning to think with scientific reasoning teaches critical thinking and allows for even nonscientists to learn new ways of teaching themselves. A strong philosophical argument in favor of inclusion also suggests that learning critical and analytical thought—one of the foundational essential requirements of any scientific discipline—should not be restricted on the basis of disability.

      Active experiences, where students engage in all aspects of laboratory activities, are critical to success in science-based careers, and students with disabilities are no exception. The underrepresentation of students with disabilities in STEM can be attributed to limited exposure to the sciences and a lack of teacher training in inclusive teaching practices (Moon, Todd, Morton, & Ivey, 2012).

      Exposure to science education contributes to the development of an interest in the sciences. Young people with disabilities who experience special education or segregated schooling environments often lack exposure to science and may never have the opportunity to develop this interest. A lack of teacher training around appropriate accommodations in the sciences, particularly in the laboratory environment, will create barriers for students with disabilities (Moon et al., 2012). This extends to educators at the postsecondary level, who are in a position to foster the development of students with disabilities in lab-based science courses, curricula, and programs of study.

      One answer to the question we pose, then, presents itself as the need to fill a knowledge gap. Lack of educator and service-provider awareness is a significant barrier to the full participation of students with disabilities in the sciences. Indeed, the student’s development and growth will also suffer due to his or her lack of knowledge of role models and precedents. This book is intended to be a significant first step in closing that gap.

      Some key terms

      Before proceeding further in this book, it is important to make sure that we, the authors, and you, the reader, are using the same language to describe disability and education in the sciences.

      STEM fields are considered to be any field in the sciences (including physical sciences, life sciences, and basic medical sciences), along with technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary fields are included in our discussion here.

      Disability is …an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations (World Health Organization, 2016). Disability is considered …a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives. Overcoming the difficulties faced by people with disabilities requires interventions to remove environmental and social barriers (World Health Organization, 2016).

      "In human rights terms, accommodation is the word used to describe the duties of an [educator], employer, [or] service provider … to give equal access to people who are protected by [Human Rights legislation]," including persons with disabilities (Human Rights Legal Support Centre, Government of Ontario, Canada, 2016). Meanwhile, Accommodation needs are the tasks and … functions that a person with a disability cannot fully perform without some type of accommodation in the context of their course, program, or discipline (Work Without Limits, 2016).

      Reasonable accommodation is any change to a job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done that allows an individual with a disability to apply for a job, perform job functions, or enjoy equal access to benefits available to other individuals in the workplace (US Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy, 2016). A similar concept exists within all levels of education. Educators and employers are required by law within their jurisdictions to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified students and employees with disabilities, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. Finally, undue hardship is an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of … the nature and cost of the accommodation in relation to the size, resources, nature, and structure of the [employer’s or school’s] operation. Undue hardship is determined on a case-by-case basis (Frequently Asked Questions, Americans with Disabilities Act

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