Diversity in the STEM and education
Minorities had always suffered difficulties to access or fit in certain places that are easier to reach for people who do not belong to a minority.
Despite that in the last decades there has been changes, there is a minority that is still highly underrepresented in the professional environment and in STEM; people with disabilities.
A 2012 publication with the title Accommodating Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) states that “teachers, instructors, and professors are frequently unable, unprepared, or otherwise ill-equipped to recognize and address the needs of students with disabilities. As a result, course content may be inaccessible.” Other research proved the impact of diverse social upbringing, the media, and self-reinforcement of negative ideas towards people with disabilities. In psychology this is known as The expectancy effect, which leads to lower test performance, less interest in pursuing studies in science and mathematics, and reduced effort to pursue counter-stereotypic skills, among other things.
All this is worsened by the perspective of many people who argue that the education system has an excessive focus on grades that need to be meet in a scheduled time and in a particular way, rather than obtaining knowledge. This means that students who do not fit easily or need other learning methods are not taken into consideration, making them to lose interest or face an invisible barrier, aside from the stigma or lack of physical resources they already fight.
To today’s 2022 date this is the data we have; by 2021 22% (14M) of the population in the United Kingdom (67M) had a disability, and 9% were under the age of 18. This data means that there is an increase of the 3% in the last decade. It is believed that in some cases this is not due solely in the fact that more people have a disability, but they are more willing to report it, as there is more social and institutional awareness, accessibility to work and less barriers than before.
Nevertheless, to today’s date we do not have a national register of people with disabilities and its definition can make the numbers grow or decrease.
Having a disability as a student
The percentage of STEM first degree entrants with a known disability has increased from 7.5% (12,585) in 2007/08 to 15.5 % (33,530) in 2018/19. At postgraduate level, the percentage of STEM students with a known disability has increased from 6.1 % (3,400) in 2007/08 to 12.5 % (12,585) in 2018/19.
This is the data recollected from a research study focused on STEM in the United Kingdom. Despite the range of dates and outdated stats by the 2021 presented, this study is the most complete in this matter that we could find. However, to update this data we have the following stats by the ONS in 2021, although is focused on higher education in general, not only STEM:
It is important to notice that despite there are significant changes, the data does also cover grown adults. Which can make it hard to really see changes in recent education, since statistically most of them were not in education at the time of the changes occurred in the last decade.
Despite the rise in numbers, it has been noticed that students who are blind or deaf have not increased their percentage of all STEM students over this period. There is little to none difference in the non-completion rate between those with a known disability and those without for STEM first degree students. For postgraduate STEM students the gap is wider. Those with a known disability are more likely to leave.
STEM first degree and postgraduate leavers with a social communication/autistic disorder have the highest rate of unemployment six months after leaving (2011/12 to 2016/17).
Having a disability as a professional in STEM
The Labour Force reported that 9 million people in the working age (16- 64) reported they were disabled in January to March 2022, representing 22% of the working population in the UK.
The percentage of STEM academic staff with a known disability is rising, as has increased from 2% (1,645) in 2007/08 to 4% (4,465) in 2018/19.
However, many professionals point that these changes are due improvements in education, which can provide more access to a job, and not the job market itself. This are the experiences of some participants of the 2020 Qualitative research on barriers to progression of disabled scientists report for the Royal Society:
“As a student, I was aware of them being concerned and signposting the supports. As a staff member, I’ve not been asked anything about any disability – in the research institute they wouldn’t be aware of my disability. I think as staff you are seen as having responsibility for yourself and they leave you to search out support for yourself. I don’t even think that there is any support for mental health for staff members.”
(Female, ECR, Public Health, Physical disability or health condition)
“It should not be a component of is this grant application a good value for money…it should allow diversity of what you are using it for, so they should accept that BSL interpreters, there is only so much you can get on access to work and they won’t necessarily travel with you and all the rest of it for free and stuff. But if you need a carer, if you need specialist equipment like a hoist or things like that then…there should be some flexibility on that, there should be some quick grab funds for doing that sort of stuff. It shouldn’t all be locked down and detailed into a grant, that actually is stupid because we would end up having to detail more than we would actually spend.”
(Female, Mid-Career, Health Research, Physical disability or health condition)
“A lot case for funding is based on prior funding applications. That means your track record of receiving money, building a portfolio is important and some of those are travel grants. If you are disabled, travel becomes a more significant outlay or not feasible. There is indirect discrimination there.”
(Male, Senior/Late career, Biology, Physical disability or health condition)
Other reasons for people with disability leaving the sector and education, and bias used for not contracting them can be found on some experience shared by professional and students:
“In science, there is a lot of failure because you are testing things all the time. Keeping up with that level of failure hits people hard, it just might be extra hard for those with mental health. If you don’t have successes or small wins happening it can be hard.”
(Male, Non-academic STEM role, Medical Science, Neurodiverse)
“Deaf people are left out in group meetings, conversations – basically networking so deaf people cannot form effective networks in applying for funds.”
(Male, Mid-Career, Chemistry, Physical disability or health condition)
“They make a big hoo-ha about diversity – they are really proud of their attitude to diversity, but they are rubbish. We have a very new campus and students in wheelchairs can’t reach to activate the doors and gates and it’s humiliating because they have to ask others. This has been going for a year – nothing has been done. Some have to travel in the goods lift because other students occupy the main lift. It’s even more difficult for those with invisible disabilities because no one wants to talk about it because it’s messy.”
(Female, Mid-Career, Psychology, Physical disability or health condition)
It is important to clarify that not all the experiences are bad, as we just shared those that can create awareness and representation of the situations that someone with disabilities might face. Many people agree that at the bottom of the problem is about the willingness of your colleagues and managers to accept you and facilitate your job to your needs.
There are straightforward signs and evidence of a progression in all levels, especially in education, not just in acceptance but in resources too. However, there is still a lot of work to do starting from acceptance and acknowledging that bias is based on erroneous information or concluded from extremely specific and badly updated context that do not apply to today’s world. Also, applying structural and technical changes to meet the basic needs of diverse people and take them into consideration.
Sources:
Trends on students and staff with disabilities in STEM | Royal Society
UK disability statistics: Prevalence and life experiences
Qualitative research on barriers to progression of disabled scientists (royalsociety.org)
