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Does a disability prevent career advancement?
05 December 2012
By Blanka Sengerová
In the November edition of the RSC News, a membership circular for the members of the Royal Society of Chemistry, I read an interesting interview with someone called Audrey Cameron who is apparently the "first deaf chemistry PhD in Scotland". What struck me was the fact that she was discouraged from an academic career because of her disability.
She was first asked about her university experience, explaining that it was a complete culture shock (after moving from a supportive environment of a boarding school for the deaf) when arriving at Paisley University to study chemistry in 1986. Despite the fact that no further support was given ("when I approached the head of department and asked for additional lecture notes, I was promptly told that would not be possible and I would have to work as hard as the other students") she managed to complete her BSc and later a PhD.
She apparently tried to continue with her academic career but was discouraged from continuing - she says, "during my time at Strathclyde and later as a postdoc at Durham, I was repeatedly told that as a deaf person I would be unable to become a lecturer and thus gain career advancement". This led her to applying for a PGCE and becoming becoming a teacher of (including higher grade) chemistry in mainstream schools. She wonders why she was able to teach school-age students ("as a deaf person I was trusted with teaching school children to the highest level") yet "it was deemed that [she] was not capable of lecturing students".
More about Dr Audrey Cameron here: http://www.rsc.org/Membership/175-faces-of-chemistry/all-faces/audrey-cameron.asp
What strikes me from the interview is the unfairness of the situation she describes, of course, but I do wonder whether things have changed a bit. Do you think that in the current era, disabled researchers would still be discouraged from continuing their academic career? And is it absolutely essential to be a lecturer to go further beyond the postdoc stage in an academic career?
Sandrine Berges12 December 2012 at 09:40 AM
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One of my colleagues here was death. He'd received a phd from a prestigious american university, and received it at a young age, so I cannot imagine he had too many obstacles thrown his way - although I can't be sure. While he was here he took an active part in teaching and research seminars, with his earing aid sitting prominently on a desk in the middle of the room. Often he could not hear what students were saying at all, but he somehow managed to be a very effective teacher, and not to receive any negative feedback from anyone. He's moved on to another university in a country he wanted to live in.
By contrast, I once had a student who was blind (could see very little with one eye and was able to read very large print slowly). He would not, however, admit to his blindness to anyone (had to tell me when I confronted him about not doing the reading), because he was afraid of being made fun of by his friends. I convinced him to bring large print texts to class one day, and he was in fact made fun of - he did not bring them again. He consistently refused to seek help, yet, somehow managed to graduate. This perhaps says something about the program he was part of, that he could get a degree with next to no reading.
It would be really interesting to read a survey on the question. The experience of disabled people in academia is mostly known to us through anecdotes, and that is clearly not enough to judge what can be done to improve it. As the mother of a disabled child, I'm especially keen to know what to expect. So thank you for bringing this up.
Vasile Ion15 December 2012 at 04:01 PM
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One potential arena of employment for young people with disabilities is the arts. This brief reports on effective strategies that 47 young artists with disabilities used to gain access to arts-related experiences in order to further their educational and career pathways. Across program years 2002–2005, these young artists, all aged 16 to 25, were finalists in the VSA arts/ Volkswagen of America, Inc. Program, an arts competition that was intended to showcase their talents and accomplishments. As part of the overall evaluation, we were able to identify career development strategies based on a review of finalists’ program applications. This brief is mainly targeted at visual artists, although the strategies may also apply to other groups of artists.
Blanka Sengerová20 December 2012 at 10:41 PM
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Yes, Sandrine, I agree that much of what I have heard about disability and academia is anecdotal and it would be interesting to know if some more scientific study has been done. It is a shame that your blind student felt that they would be made a laughing stock by their course-mates, it would be nice to think that they could get support from them instead.
I remember a student in my undergraduate lectures who was in a wheelchair but I do not know how her practical arrangements worked. Having said that, when I had a broken wrist midway through my first year, the various departments were very helpful in either letting me work with somebody else or providing a helper for performing the experiments. But I think as an undergraduate this is much easier than as a PhD student or postdoc where you need to be essentially independent and if you were to have an extra person helping you, then their salary would have to be found somewhere.