While universities are obligated to provide bare-bones disability accommodations such as test time extensions, professors and peers often treat these as burdens on themselves, or as an undeserved advantage for the disabled person.
Besides taking up mental energy, the decision to confront or report racist behavior in the workplace places an extra burden on the person who is affected by it.įor disabled scientists, who make up about 8 percent of doctoral recipients in science and engineering, a large barrier to a career in science is not the disability itself but the lack of appropriate accommodations and the stigma surrounding them. By taking responsibility for fixing the system, scientific leaders will not only make science a more welcoming and inclusive place for everyone they will allow marginalized researchers to focus on their work.įor Black scientists-who make up 3.9 percent of all physical scientists-working in STEM often means handling a constant barrage of microaggressions.
They must be willing to listen, and to learn from our lived experiences. These senior scientists, who have benefited most from the current power structure in science, are the ones responsible for creating equitable research environments and promoting a culture of acceptance.ĭepartment heads, in particular, must create the policies that will remove extra barriers and allow their most junior and vulnerable members to succeed. The responsibility for creating an environment where all scientists, regardless of able-bodiedness, LGBTQ status or skin color, can thrive must come from the top, from the people who have the real power: tenured and senior faculty. It usually falls to us, the marginalized scientists, to advocate for ourselves against these barriers. Underrepresented people who pursue scientific careers largely occupy the early career rungs of academia, and often face a hostile obstacle course of microaggressions, bias, harassment and more. I am a queer and nonbinary astrophysicist, a victim of workplace bullying and abuse, and, like so many before me, am making the heart-breaking decision to leave academia. This particularly applies to scientists who occupy the intersection of two or more of these identities-like me. People of color (especially Black and Indigenous scientists), people of marginalized genders (including women, nonbinary and transgender folks), queer scientists, disabled people, and those coming from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background have historically been excluded from research by those with power and privilege. Academic science was not built for marginalized people.
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