So there is a new drive to find jobs for disabled people. But the question is, who will take them on. I stumbled across the latter link on the BBC disability forum, which I have recently been frequenting, largely because it directly quotes some of the people on there.
I’ve been disabled since not long after I graduated. Since then I’ve been employed full time at the National Physical Laboratory as a research scientist and then technical communicator, and now I’m at the synchrotron. My disability is neurological, I use a wheelchair most of the time and if not I’m on crutches, but I have seen very little of the discrimination other people seem to experience. There have been a few practical issues, and it could be argued that I gave up being a practicing scientist because of my disability, but I also really enjoy being a technical writer so may well have gone down that route anyway.
I do wonder why this is. Working in a scientific environment my co-workers are typically more highly educated that the average workplace. But there are also other perks, especially for theorists – flexible hours (although very long!), working from home is an option, and if you have limited social skills you should fit right in :)
I also find the practical, problem solving mentality that many scientists have to be a help. Very few scientists I meet ask what causes my disability, the questions tend to be of a practical nature – can I fit the wheelchair through this door, can I walk up a few stairs. And if not, it’s not a big deal, we just find an alternative. In fact, my wheelchair is viewed quite enviously at Diamond – when meetings are held on the other side of the synchrotron building it’s a long walk, whereas whizzing round in wheelie is actually quite fun.
Having said all this, with the one obvious exception I haven’t come across many other disabled scientists. Am I alone, or just looking in the wrong places? Is there anybody out there?
The lack of comments is testament perhaps? :(
I have a biologist friend who is profoundly deaf. I once knew a blind physicist, but he quit… too hard for him. So, as a biologist, what causes your condition? :)
I was never a biologist, but a physicist. The condition is dystonia, which has no known cause, at least in my case.
Interesting that your physicist friend found it too hard, I wonder if that was a result of discrimination or sheer practicality?
I know one profoundly deaf palaeontologist; one partially-sighted palaeontologist; and another completely blind one. I know one palaeontological illustrator who is missing an arm. All are considered highly successful in the field.
I heard of a blind microbiologist, in the USA I think.
Earlier this year Ju Gosling’s exhibition Towards a Scientific Model of Disability was displayed here.
It helped to generate some better understanding of “disability” and the false dichotomy it sets up.
I wasn’t that impressed with Ju Gosling’s piece, but perhaps that’s because I only saw it online rather than in person.
I’m really interested in the concept of a scientific model of disability though. I have discussed it with disabled artists and it seems to me that disabled people have more stereotypes of scientists than I have seen from scientists about disabled people, but I feel more part of the scientific community than the disabled community. I’d be interested to know what Henry’s palaeontologist colleagues think…
Well, don’t tell anyone but I was a bit underwhelmed by the exhibition as a piece of art. However, talking with her was enlightening and it certainly made me think, which is at any rate one function of art. She comes across as intelligent and questioning and was quite ready to listen to and understand what the scientists said to her, which was refreshing.
I think my big concern from what I’ve read about that exhibition was that it seemed to be implying a consensus between scientists of how they view disability, as if all scientists are a big amorphous mass with the same opinion based on interviews with two medical researchers.
I’d be interested to know what Henry’s palaeontologist colleagues think…
Well, of course, I can’t pretend to speak on anyone else’s behalf, but as far as I can judge, all these people just get on with life. Being scientists, and therefore ingenious and intelligent, they have found creative ways round their disabilities. The deaf palaeontologist gives very good illustrated talks in which all his words are shown on screen (being deaf, his speech is hard for strangers to understand). The partially sighted palaeontologist studies really big dinosaurs, with bones big enough for him to study easily.
Being scientists, and therefore ingenious and intelligent, they have found creative ways round their disabilities.
I’m not sure how serious this statement is, but I have often felt this is the case for me – I am a natural problem solver and so can find creative solution. I’m also extra curious, so I’m inclined to learn as much as I can about my medical condition and experiment on myself to see what works!
Perfectly serious, Sara. And as everyone knows,
Hi Sara – In Materials Science I know of a few disabled scientists, Jack Christian FRS (now deceased) was Professor of Metallurgy in Oxford and suffered from Parkinson’s disease for 30 years. Mike Bevis was Director of the Wolfson centre for Materials Processing at Brunel University and did this from a wheelchair after suffering MS. Isaac Porat is Professor of textile Technology at the University of Manchester and is profoundly blind.
Although not a scientist, my mother-in-law has been deaf from birth (German Measles)and worked in the British Museum as an academic Ethnographer.
I guess the obvious exception has just generated a lot of publicity.
John (Kappa) Cornforth, Nobel-prizewinning chemist was deaf from late childhood.