Uncharted

This week’s review spotlights firsthand experiences of scientists with disabilities, underscoring the ableism and bias still prevalent in STEM.

Posted on July 15, 2024 in Reviews of the Month

Uncharted: How Scientists Navigate Their Own Health, Research, and Experiences of Bias

ed. by Skylar Bayer and Gabi Serrato Marks Columbia, 2023
328p bibl index, 9780231203623 $120.00, 9780231203630 $30.00, 9780231555159

This collection compiles 30 autobiographical narratives from persons with disabilities working, or formerly working, in STEM fields. The writers variously experience sensory challenges, neurodivergences and mental illnesses, mobility impairments, and diabetes and other chronic illnesses, such as MS or lupus. The joys of graduations and achievements are counterposed with accounts of bullying, being underestimated, and dismissed, and stories of physical exhaustion and stress from managing illness and disregard. The metaphor of the chart, taken from navigation, is used to describe the uniqueness of the contributors’ journeys, all at different stages of life and in their careers. Community and family support, assistive technologies, flexible workplace policies, and reliable health care are all things that facilitate success in STEM fields. The collection is entirely concerned with giving voice, and thus does not deeply engage the history of science as an institutional field, nor with scholarship in disability or crip studies, which would allow for more systemic reading across the experiences, something needed to generate policy and institutional responses that address the inequities and ableism assumed intrinsic to scientific work. Excellent for starting conversations about disability, bias, and ableism in STEM. 

Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.
Reviewer: J. L. Croissant, University of Arizona
Subject: Science & Technology – Health Sciences
Choice Issue: Mar 2024

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