Beyond Compliance: Workplace Barriers, Access, and Inclusive Policies Impacting People with Disabilities in the STEM Workforce

美国国家科学院正在举行一次会议，讨论、审查和探讨与残疾人STEM工作场所的可及性和包容性相关的广泛问题，并强调他们在STEM劳动力中的成功。美国国家科学院高等教育和劳动力委员会与科学教育委员会合作，正在召集一个特设委员会，指导一套委托论文和一场虚拟会议，其中包括演讲、小组讨论、分组讨论、互动会议、反思或其他参与模式，以尽可能地传达信息并使其易于获取。主题包括但不限于，使用资产方法来定义STEM人员的残疾；审查工作环境、政策和做法中的体制障碍；更好地了解残疾人在STEM工作场所的经历，包括所有类型的STEM研究环境。通过使用交叉视角来研究STEM劳动力雇主和残疾人所经历的挑战和机遇，所产生的产品有助于提高对限制STEM中残疾人职业发展的系统性制度障碍的认识，以及有助于促进残疾人在STEM研究环境中工作的准入和包容实践和政策。虚拟会议讲习班旨在使残疾人和非残疾人利益攸关方参与其中。所有计划的活动都对任何残疾委员会成员或利益相关者开放，以确保包括残疾人的生活经历。将向公众提供可访问的会议记录和委托文件以及其他产品。预计研讨会的结果将为STEM工作场所的可及性和包容性研究提供国家议程，并向NSF通报促进STEM劳动力中残疾人的举措。一名外部评价人员将加入项目小组，采用标准来评价工作活动、会议和传播材料。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The National Academies are conducting a conference to address, examine and explore broad issues related to the accessibility and inclusivity of STEM workplaces for persons with disabilities, and highlighting their success in the STEM workforce. The National Academies’ Board on Higher Education and Workforce, in collaboration with the Board on Science Education, are convening an ad hoc committee to direct a set of commissioned papers and a virtual conference with presentations, panels, discussion breakouts, interactive sessions, reflections, or other modes of engagement, as determined to convey the information best and be as accessible as possible. Topics include, but are not limited to, using an asset approach to define the disabilities of persons in STEM; examining institutional barriers in work environments, policies and practices; and better understanding the experiences of persons with disabilities across STEM workplaces, including all types of STEM research settings. By using an intersectional lens to examine the challenges and opportunities experienced by STEM workforce employers, and by persons with disabilities, the products generated are contributing to advancing knowledge about systemic institutional barriers that limit the career advancement of persons with disabilities in STEM, as well as the access and inclusion practices and policies that contribute to advancing persons with disabilities working in STEM research settings. The virtual conference workshop is designed to engage with stakeholders who are persons with disabilities, and those who are not. All planned activities are accessible to any committee member or stakeholder with a disability to ensure that the lived experiences of persons with disabilities are included. Accessible conference proceedings and commissioned papers, and other products, will be made available to the public. Results from the workshop are expected to inform a national agenda for research about the accessibility and inclusivity of STEM workplaces, and to inform NSF about initiatives to advance persons with disabilities in the STEM workforce. An external evaluator will join the project team to employ metrics for assessment of the work activities, the conference and the dissemination materials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.