Beyond Compliance: Workplace Barriers, Access, and Inclusive Policies Impacting People with Disabilities in the STEM Workforce

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The National Academies are conducting a conference to address, examine and explore broad issues related to the accessibility and inclusivity of STEM workplaces for persons with disabilities, and highlighting their success in the STEM workforce. The National Academies’ Board on Higher Education and Workforce, in collaboration with the Board on Science Education, are convening an ad hoc committee to direct a set of commissioned papers and a virtual conference with presentations, panels, discussion breakouts, interactive sessions, reflections, or other modes of engagement, as determined to convey the information best and be as accessible as possible. Topics include, but are not limited to, using an asset approach to define the disabilities of persons in STEM; examining institutional barriers in work environments, policies and practices; and better understanding the experiences of persons with disabilities across STEM workplaces, including all types of STEM research settings. By using an intersectional lens to examine the challenges and opportunities experienced by STEM workforce employers, and by persons with disabilities, the products generated are contributing to advancing knowledge about systemic institutional barriers that limit the career advancement of persons with disabilities in STEM, as well as the access and inclusion practices and policies that contribute to advancing persons with disabilities working in STEM research settings. The virtual conference workshop is designed to engage with stakeholders who are persons with disabilities, and those who are not. All planned activities are accessible to any committee member or stakeholder with a disability to ensure that the lived experiences of persons with disabilities are included. Accessible conference proceedings and commissioned papers, and other products, will be made available to the public. Results from the workshop are expected to inform a national agenda for research about the accessibility and inclusivity of STEM workplaces, and to inform NSF about initiatives to advance persons with disabilities in the STEM workforce. An external evaluator will join the project team to employ metrics for assessment of the work activities, the conference and the dissemination materials. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.