About Chronically Invisible.

I am disabled. I am also scientist. And even though I knew deep down that logically the two were not mutually exclusive, I'll admit I had my doubts when I first heard the words "chronic illness" come out of a doctor's mouth. Fortunately, through a stroke of luck and the power of the internet, I quickly found a community of disabled and chronically ill scientists online. I learned, through their stories, that limitations of the body or mind should never impede anyone from becoming a scientist.

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Unfortunately, despite the fact disabled students are just as likely to pursue science and engineering degrees as their non-disabled counterparts [1], disabled people represent only 7% of graduate students and 9% of the scientific workforce [2]. Therefore, I'm creating Chronically Invisible to not only showcase disabled scientists (past and present), but highlight issues of accessibility that pop up in all levels of science and engineering.

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References:

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[1] Sutton, H. (2017), Students with disabilities as likely to enter STEM fields as those without disabilities. Disability Compliance for Higher Education, 22: 9-9

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[2] National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2019). Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: Special Report NSF 19‐340. [Link].

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