We explore how the world of science is adapting to be more inclusive of disabilities and talk to people in the field about how we can create more diverse role models.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 I'm Emris.
00:15 I'm Hamid Haroon.
00:16 I'm Faithi Wadia.
00:17 I'm Jessie Boland.
00:18 I am Julie Gibbons.
00:19 I am Yota.
00:20 And I want to see a chemical sciences community that's
00:23 welcoming and enabling of everyone.
00:25 I want to see disabled people following
00:27 their dreams and passions.
00:28 And I just want to see a world where who you are
00:31 is basically an asset rather than a deficit.
00:33 I would like to see real change.
00:35 I want to see more accessible science for everyone.
00:38 And I want everybody to feel that they are scientists.
00:42 I'm Jennifer Lee.
00:43 And I would like to see a world where science and scientists
00:46 are representative and where everyone feels they belong.
00:49 In the UK, if you're disabled, you're
00:50 much less likely to have a job or get paid
00:52 as much as someone who isn't.
00:54 If we look specifically at science or STEM,
00:56 disabled scientists are hugely underrepresented.
00:59 So where do we start to make things better?
01:01 Education.
01:04 We're here at the Addicting School, which
01:06 is an outstanding special needs school
01:08 to find out about other ways that we
01:10 can make science more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
01:13 The pupils are fantastic to work with.
01:19 And how important is it for children
01:21 like the ones here at this school
01:22 to see disabled scientists progressing and succeeding?
01:25 So that's really, really key.
01:26 And actually, we have a unit for our older pupils
01:29 where we really look closely at scientists and inventors
01:32 over the year.
01:33 And we look at stereotypes.
01:35 And we look at how perhaps there's
01:36 been discrimination because they have that understanding
01:39 from their PSHE lessons how important
01:41 it is to be diverse and inclusive in all aspects
01:44 of life.
01:45 Whose responsibility is it to make sure that science
01:47 is accessible to everyone?
01:49 Well, I think it's everyone's responsibility.
01:51 Obviously, as an educator, I have a big part to play in that.
01:55 And so it is right from when we start science early on.
01:58 It's about making sure that every child is
02:00 reaching their potential, can access science
02:02 as much as possible.
02:03 Do you think more research labs should
02:05 be more accessible in the way that your science lab is?
02:07 Absolutely, as much as possible.
02:08 Because the disabled community have so much
02:10 to offer the science community.
02:12 So absolutely, I think it would be in everyone's interests
02:15 to do that.
02:16 I find it quite fascinating, the stuff
02:19 that we find out in science.
02:22 What's your favourite bit of science?
02:24 Probably the experiments.
02:25 What kind of people do you think become scientists?
02:28 Maybe people who didn't realise they wanted to be a scientist.
02:31 Do you think there should be more people like you in science?
02:34 Yeah.
02:35 Jutta is a governor at the school
02:36 and is also part of the Nadsen STEM Action Group.
02:38 She works to ensure that all children have access to science
02:41 and can choose a career in STEM.
02:43 Do you think there's a gap in accessibility
02:45 for disabled young people?
02:46 I think we need to understand that we can teach science
02:51 in practical ways.
02:52 We have to find the hook, the way in,
02:56 that can relate to young people's lives
02:59 and experiences.
03:00 Teachers are doing a great job, but we
03:02 have to acknowledge that resources are needed.
03:06 More resources are needed at schools.
03:08 But what's being done about this on a government level?
03:10 The Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan,
03:13 says technology is the way forward.
03:15 Well, very much focused on trying
03:16 to make sure that children with special educational needs
03:19 get access to all areas of the curriculum.
03:22 And any adjustments that are needed
03:24 to help them overcome their special educational needs,
03:26 that they're there at the right point in time.
03:29 We do have some challenges with that.
03:30 There's many more people with special educational needs.
03:33 But one of the things you do find
03:34 is that certainly use of technology
03:36 is very helpful to overcome quite a lot
03:38 of special educational needs.
03:40 Is there an issue that's not necessarily
03:41 that the scientists themselves that seem to be disabled?
03:44 We seem to be quite reactive in terms of disability,
03:49 rather than proactive.
03:50 And some of the arguments that are put forward,
03:53 like we don't know how many people we have,
03:56 or have disclosed disability, or how can we make differences
04:00 if we don't know what the needs are,
04:03 I think we have to reflect on whether these
04:05 are the right arguments to raise in terms of us making changes.
04:09 I think starting with the lived experiences
04:12 and the voices of disabled people
04:14 can offer really inclusive solutions for everybody.
04:18 Disability is something that can affect anyone,
04:20 at any age.
04:21 You can be born with a disability
04:23 or acquire one due to an accident or illness.
04:25 Our ageing society and the COVID-19 pandemic
04:27 have increased numbers of disabled people in our society.
04:30 An estimate suggests that up to a third of the population
04:33 have a condition that impacts their everyday life.
04:35 Disability can be visible, it can be hidden,
04:37 it can fluctuate from day to day.
04:39 And it goes beyond the physical and includes neurodivergence,
04:41 mental health issues, and brain fog from chemotherapy.
04:44 The Royal Society of Chemistry is an influential professional
04:47 body who are helping to address inequalities
04:49 by understanding the barriers for disabled chemists.
04:52 Disability in a lot of cases is something
04:54 that has to be actively thought about in advance.
04:56 Things have to be made accessible and, you know,
05:00 in such a way that they're accessible to diverse people
05:03 with diverse needs.
05:04 The systems in place to support disabled chemists
05:09 are not necessarily, well, very good,
05:11 and not necessarily very consistent.
05:13 We found that, for example, when you take an intersectional
05:17 analysis of sort of the academic pipeline,
05:20 you see obviously massive drop-offs at each stage
05:23 in terms of how many disabled people are in academia
05:27 and chemistry.
05:28 But then if you also combine those analyses with gender
05:31 and with race and ethnicity, especially,
05:33 those drop-offs become, you know, really pronounced
05:35 to the point of the numbers are too small to look at
05:38 at the end of the line.
05:39 And so kids who are from minoritized ethnic backgrounds
05:43 and have some kind of disability are not seeing anybody
05:47 that looks like them.
05:48 In 2020, the Trades Union Congress found that
05:50 the employment rate for disabled people was just 51.8%,
05:54 compared to 81.6% for non-disabled people.
05:57 In October 2023, the UK government reported
06:00 the disability pay gap to be 28.9%.
06:03 Looking specifically at the world of STEM,
06:05 the all-party parliamentary committee reported
06:07 the STEM workforce was less diverse
06:09 than the wider workforce.
06:10 Systematic barriers like these are ableist,
06:13 and if we want to address ableism and increase diversity,
06:16 we have to be intersectional.
06:17 The National Association of Disabled Staff Networks
06:20 brought together a STEM Action Group
06:21 to address the challenges disabled scientists face
06:23 in the industry and research.
06:25 Together, we want to do things differently
06:27 and bring about real change.
06:28 I visited the chair of NADSEN, Hameed,
06:31 who's a researcher in biomedical engineering,
06:33 and Jesse, who's a future leaders fellow
06:35 researching materials and physics.
06:36 They're both part of the NADSEN STEM Action Group with me
06:38 and are based at the University of Manchester.
06:41 We used a creative approach to capture the emotional impact
06:43 of marginalisation and reflected on the challenges we face
06:46 as disabled researchers working in science.
06:48 When I was younger, I didn't see anybody like me doing science,
06:53 and I think that's a big barrier to young people,
06:56 young disabled people, and thinking about science
06:59 as being a possible career for them.
07:01 And something that we always say is
07:02 accessibility benefits everyone.
07:04 I think that there's also something around health sometimes,
07:07 that there's just this presumption that disability
07:09 is something that students have.
07:11 Maybe the lecturers are disabled,
07:13 and we need to make sure that, you know,
07:15 that they have access to it.
07:17 It's kind of sad that there is a perception
07:19 of your staff won't be disabled,
07:22 that you've assumed that you can't make it
07:24 to be a professor or something.
07:26 What have been your experiences in terms of career progression?
07:29 Definitely for me, I felt that my access was pretty good
07:33 when I was an undergrad, because it was quite common
07:35 to have students who were hard of hearing or deaf.
07:38 When I went to PhD and in a STEM lab, that's rarer,
07:42 so there wasn't examples of how it's been done before.
07:45 And then when you go up to the next level,
07:46 it's even harder, and also you're on your own.
07:49 Even the disability support service at the university
07:53 was just for students.
07:54 So as soon as you became a member of staff,
07:56 there was nowhere to go.
07:57 That's why we started the Disabled Staff Network,
08:00 to bring staff together and kind of lobby
08:04 for support for disabled staff.
08:06 And I think that's been a game changer, actually.
08:09 Different disciplines and different disabilities
08:11 require different adaptations.
08:13 Jessie showed us around the lab she works in,
08:15 which has been modified for better accessibility and inclusion.
08:17 But even with adjustments, there are still challenges.
08:20 Typical kind of physics labs,
08:22 obviously you see that this is an optical bench.
08:24 So already you can see, if I wanted people to access this lab,
08:29 there has to be space for them to move around in the lab,
08:32 and also space for them to get out
08:34 in case there's a problem in the lab with fire.
08:36 So that has to be designed.
08:37 But you can already see that the height of these optical benches
08:42 is something that needs to be thought about.
08:45 Also, because this is a laser lab,
08:47 you don't want anything to necessarily be at eye height.
08:51 So you need to have laser shields.
08:53 Also something that's challenging for me in this particular room
08:57 is the panels on this wall, audio damping.
09:01 So if you're talking in this bit,
09:03 it's even harder than it would be normally
09:06 to hear people and communicate in a lab.
09:08 So if I was to shut the curtains behind you while people are working,
09:12 which you often do for measurements,
09:14 how can we talk to that person behind the curtain?
09:18 If I lip read, you're not going to be talking to me
09:21 on the other side of the curtain.
09:23 But I may need to know that I need to leave the lab quickly.
09:26 So we often use our phones and WhatsApp and Teams
09:30 to communicate to each other while we're in the lab.
09:33 We have to be thoughtful, not just about how we design the labs,
09:36 but also how we work in the labs.
09:39 If you're neurodivergent, chronically ill or disabled,
09:42 you're less likely to secure funds for research.
09:44 And if you do, the amount is often less than for non-disabled researchers.
09:47 Tiger and STEM analysed funding data
09:49 and found that only 25% of disabled researchers
09:52 even apply for funding across all disciplines.
09:54 The Royal Society of Chemistry
09:56 funded one of the projects that I've been involved in.
09:58 We brought to life what an accessible research lab could look like,
10:01 setting out practical recommendations.
10:03 Bob Lloyd developed a 360 VR lab
10:05 that highlighted exactly where and why accessibility could be an issue.
10:10 The model also includes how to change things and to make them better.
10:13 The Wellcome Trust is an example of a charitable foundation and funder
10:16 that can address the lack of support in the system.
10:19 So what are they doing to help?
10:20 Challenges for disability are massive.
10:23 From access to who gets to decide,
10:26 to lack of flexibility, to research requires quite a lot of travel
10:30 and quite a lot of international collaboration.
10:32 There's so many different paradigms by which research careers
10:36 are just not made to be accessible in the way that you would need them to be.
10:39 If I'm a disabled researcher and there's something that I'm particularly
10:42 interested in researching because of my lived experience,
10:45 am I able to actually follow that path at the moment?
10:48 To me, it's just symptomatic of a broader structural system
10:52 that needs massive change.
10:54 I guess it's that whole idea that I'm only disabled
10:56 because you're making me disabled.
10:58 Wellcome over the last two to three years has had a huge amount of investment
11:02 going into its anti-racism work.
11:03 And it's absolutely the ambition that we put the same level of care
11:06 and attention into a big programme on anti-ableism.
11:08 So thinking about how inclusive we are as an employer,
11:11 thinking about how inclusive we are as a funder,
11:13 and making sure that our research is inclusive in its design and practice.
11:17 A huge barrier to change is that EDIA work is often left to the people
11:21 who are themselves marginalised, who have to juggle this extra work
11:23 on top of managing systemic barriers and establishing their careers.
11:27 It's absolutely vital that we build in inclusivity and accessibility
11:31 so that no one is left excluded.
11:33 We need to capitalise on talent and skills and open opportunities
11:37 to everyone at every stage.
11:38 We need to highlight the emotional impact of exclusion.
11:41 And when we do all of this, that's when we'll see STEM
11:44 reflect the society that we live in.
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