Disability in Scientific Careers Panel

We were recently contacted by Warwick University society Enable, who were interested in hearing from one of our Role Models at their Disability in Scientific Careers Panel.

Lucy Williams attended on behalf of Lightyear and joined;

- Dr Bradley Duerstock, Purdue University
- Prof Sandra Chapman, Director of the Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics at the University of Warwick
- Dr Oksana Trushkevych, Senior Research Fellow in the Ultrasonics Group at Warwick
- Dr Jane Andrews, Chair of the WMG Disabled Staff Network and Co-Chair of the university Disabled Staff Network.

Image description: A logo made up of a thin blue outline of a circle that joins with two hands at the bottom. Inside it says ‘Warwick Enable’.

The panel discussed their personal experiences of how disability affects their work. Lucy discussed her visual impairment and how she’s actually found employment much easier than being a student in terms of accessibility, but also how it affected jobs she applied to, for example focusing on London where she knew there is good public transport.

Disclosing disability in job applications was an interesting point of discussion. For example, Lucy explained that in her job application she could show all the great skills she has because she’s disabled e.g. resilience, problem solving, resourcefulness. Lucy also looked up employers in terms of diversity and inclusion before applying, so that she felt comfortable disclosing and hoping they would be an accessible employer.

Ensuring that accessibility is a starting point rather than an afterthought was a key area for discussion. Lucy gave the example of a conference she spoke at, held in a new conference centre with lights that were really bright and fluorescent, which can be damaging to her eyes. Similarly, one of the other panelists mentioned their University installing lights which flashed when dimmed which triggers her epilepsy.

The session ended with sharing advice both to non-disabled people on how to be allies, and how disabled people can advocate for each other. Lucy stressed the importance of educating yourself rather than relying on disabled people to educate others, which can be a lot of emotional labour.

A big thank you to Laure from Enable for inviting Lightyear to this event, and to Lucy, for sharing her experience and advice.