Workshop and Study Group on the Demography of Disabled Scientists and Engineers

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The purpose of this project is to identify a study group and to convene a workshop of a select group of scientists to address the issues definitions, references, and survey techniques on the demography of scientists and engineers with disabilities. The participants will prepare an agenda and strategy for the development of an implementable methodology to study the demography of disabled scientists and engineers, and suggest interventions to increase the numbers of disabled individuals in science and engineering. The workshop is a first step in fully utilizing a group of individuals who are currently underutilized and to increase their participation in educational programs leading to employment in science and engineering. The papers produced by the workshop will be widely publicized to researchers in the areas of questionnaire and other sampling issues, as well as to the affiliated scientific and engineering societies of AAAS. An additional component of the workshop is a third day to be held in conjunction with the U. S. Bureau of the Census, at which a select sub-group of the participants in the first two workshop days will meet with a number of individuals from the Bureau of the Census to discuss the phrasing of the questions concerning disability in the 1990 Census. These discussions will help in the final formulation of the Census questions concerning disability. These activities have important implications for the current and the future scientific and technological health of the United States. The identification of under-employed, disabled scientists and engineers will help to alleviate present shortages if such persons are appropriately employed. The motivation of young, disabled students will help to increase the shrinking cohort of 22-year-olds from which we will get our future supply of scientists and engineers.