In recognition of July as Disability Pride Month, the NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, Dr. Marie Bernard, discussed the importance of disability inclusion with Dr. Alison Cernich, Deputy Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
“Working with scientists with disabilities, I’ve learned they bring a different lens to science and how they approach methodology,” Dr. Cernich said. “People with disabilities are often confronted with an environment that was not built for them and they often must think about things that we don’t.”
Their conversation centered around the ideas that solutions that help people with disabilities often benefit all of us. They also discussed the dangers of assumptions.
“I’ve had a lot of colleagues who are wheelchair users because they had a spinal cord injury or because they had polio. It doesn’t mean they’re cognitively limited; it means they use a wheelchair to get around,” she explained. “There are people who will talk to them differently, or even worse, will talk to the person with the wheelchair user instead because they assume there’s a cognitive disability.”
While discussing the greater possibilities within the scientific workforce to include people with disabilities, Dr. Cernich mentioned that one of her mentors had ALS.
“Just because she used a mobility device and had difficulty speaking, didn’t mean that she couldn’t write articles and do amazing things scientifically,” said Dr. Cernich. “Her cognition was perfect. She gave me lots of great insights.”
“Working with scientists with disabilities, I’ve learned they bring a different lens to science and how they approach methodology,” Dr. Cernich continues. “People with disabilities are often confronted with an environment that was not built for them and they often must think about things that we don’t.”
The ALS Network thanks Drs. Bernard and Cernich for this important conversation and for their efforts to raise awareness on workplace inclusion and accessibility for people who live with disabilities, including ALS.