Empowering Inclusion: How Disabled Scientists Are Transforming Laboratory Accessibility

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — The route to Lost Lake was steep and unpaved, flanked by sharp stones and potholes.

A collective of researchers and students carefully made their way, utilizing canes or a supportive hand for guidance. For those unable to make the journey, a drone provided a view of the lake — slender and blue.

The outdoor excursion aimed to showcase the obstacles disabled scientists frequently encounter and how those challenges can be surmounted.

“Just because you can’t achieve it the same way as someone else doesn’t imply you can’t succeed,” stated Anita Marshall, a geologist from the University of Florida leading the field trip. The team included scientists with visual, auditory, and mobility impairments.

Marshall’s organization orchestrated the expedition to the lake situated along the San Andreas Fault, near San Bernardino. Her group — the International Association for Geoscience Diversity — along with others, are striving to enhance accessibility to field and laboratory experiences, ensuring that individuals with disabilities feel welcomed and remain engaged.

Taormina Lepore, a paleontologist from Western Michigan University who participated in the excursion, commented that scientists typically prefer a singular, conventional method of accomplishing tasks.

At Lost Lake, everyone had a view — even if they couldn’t physically reach it.

“It’s fundamentally about compassion, just as much as it is about science,” remarked Lepore, who also focuses on science education research.

Enhancing accessibility in research laboratories

Individuals with disabilities constitute about 3% of the workforce in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, according to 2021 statistics from the National Science Foundation.

Researchers with disabilities believe that is partly because laboratories, classrooms, and field locations are not built to accommodate them. Students and educators continue to hear that they cannot safely work in a lab or engage in research, remarked Mark Leddy, who previously oversaw disability-related grants for the National Science Foundation.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, enacted in 1990, establishes minimum standards for new constructions and labs, including ramps and wheelchair-accessible paths.

However, altering older laboratories can be a complex and protracted endeavor.

Alyssa Paparella is pursuing her doctorate in biology at Baylor College of Medicine and has initiated an online community for scientists with disabilities. She mentioned that a science building at one of her previous schools lacked automatic doors.

“What message does that send regarding who you want truly working in the labs?” she questioned. “That’s the entrance that they can’t even access.”

Leddy stated that researchers with disabilities are invaluable due to their life experiences. They must continuously devise innovative solutions to navigate obstacles in their lives — a critical problem-solving ability in a lab context.

“If they don’t feel welcome, if they don’t receive access, then how can they contribute that skill?” Leddy remarked.

Venu Varanasi, a biomaterials engineer at the University of Texas at Arlington with low vision, produces signage utilizing high-contrast color schemes and encourages his students to maintain clean floors and surfaces to facilitate easier navigation in the lab.

He indicated that such adjustments also minimize the likelihood of accidents for non-disabled students.

“When you acknowledge that you have an individual with a disability, you’re presented with an opportunity, not a challenge,” he stated.

At Purdue University in Indiana, engineering professor Brad Duerstock assisted in creating an accessible biomedical laboratory years ago with the backing of the university and a National Institutes of Health grant, removing cabinets beneath sinks and fume hoods to enable wheelchair access.

According to Duerstock, the expenses related to enhancing a laboratory’s accessibility can vary based on the scope of changes. Some institutions allocate funds for improvements, and scientific organizations might provide grants.

Outdoor accessibility

During the California geology field trip, the group investigated the lake shaped by the San Andreas Fault, where the friction between two tectonic plates can lead to seismic activity.

The group featured rock enthusiasts at various stages of their careers. Some were students, while others were professors, eager to explore the outdoors within a community they could trust for support.

Central Connecticut State University professor Jennifer Piatek, who utilizes a wheelchair, viewed the lake through drone footage and employed a pocket lens to scrutinize rocks brought back by fellow attendees.

She expressed appreciation for being part of a community that anticipated her requirements. For example, their bus pulled up to a flatter area to ease her disembarkation.

One can learn a great deal from images and maps, “but truly experiencing the space is essential,” Piatek, whose studies focus on planetary geology, remarked.

Lepore, a neurodivergent individual with low vision, scanned rocks using an artificial intelligence application that verbally described their color and shape.

“Nature is not inherently accessible,” she stated. “Nature simply lacks ramps and various other adaptations we might wish for. However, numerous workarounds exist, and we as geoscientists can truly make things accessible.”

Bushra Hussaini applies insights gained from the field trips to assist interns and volunteers with disabilities at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, where she is employed. She indicated that the encouraging community of geologists is what motivates her to return. “We learn from one another and support each other,” she stated.

Before departing, Marshall encouraged the participants to seek assistance or a shoulder to lean on when needed. She and her colleagues from the organization have been leading field trips annually as a spin-off from the Geological Society of America’s yearly meeting.

As a doctoral candidate, Marshall would attend field trips with her colleagues only to remain back in the van, feeling frustrated, because the organizers hadn’t considered how to accommodate her disabilities.

She hopes for different circumstances for the upcoming generation of scientists.

“The entire purpose of these brief excursions is to plant that idea out there,” Marshall stated, “that there is an alternative path forward.”