Trying once more to bring folks' attention to the way the UC Access Now Demandifesto was appropriated for a journal article, just saw that article has been cited 10 times, and my body really hurts from how much this triggers me every time it comes up.
Yet I don't want to be quiet about it because the person who wilfully engaged in academic misconduct will just continue to fail upwards.
The Demandifesto’s systemic approach to accessibility in higher education substantially influenced Dwyer, P., Mineo, E., Mifsud, K., Lindholm, C., Gurba, A., & Waisman, T. C. (2023). Building neurodiversity-inclusive postsecondary campuses: recommendations for leaders in higher education. Autism in Adulthood, 5(1), 1-14. and in violation of The Demandifesto’s Creative Commons license and of academic ethics, it was not cited in this journal article. #DisruptingAbleism#DisabledInSTEM
The journal was apprised of this and conducted no investigation, relying on UC Davis, who also conducted no real investigation.
I mention this here because it is unfortunately not uncommon for the work of more marginalized disabled people to be appropriated by those who have more access within academia. #DisruptingAbleism#DisabledInSTEM
Therefore, this journal article is in Google Scholar, has been cited 10 times so far, and will likely continue to be cited while the UC Access Demandifesto is not included in Google Scholar and will continue to be actively erased. #DisruptingAbleism#DisabledInSTEM
The moderator asked Alison Cernich what NIH is doing. She said they had a working group report in 2022 that they've incorporated into their broader DEI roadmap. She'll be involved in pushing this work and discloses this is just the start. They've already made changes, but there's much much more to come and that is needed. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
He mentions how, in light of what he's heard today, he's thinking about how not everyone can publish at the same rate and how part of dismantling ableism in his field involves taking that into account. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Barbara R. Snyder, JD
President, Association of American Universities, says that offices on campuses are supposed to do this advocacy but admits disabled people at universities are largely the ones having to do it. #UCAccessNow#DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
There's the way the people who do research and what they do research on is slanted - towards (abled) white men - and that is affecting things. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Alison Cernich of NIH mentions that one of the challenges of dismantling ableism at NIH is that the medical model is very strongly entrenched at NIH. One of the ares she works in is trying to change that. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Moderator asks: Is there something NIH can do that makes these requirements less easy to ignore?
A: We can do things inside NIH to model better. We have to change within NIH. And we need to be looking at those who get grants to have better expectations of them. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Emily Harris points out we should take any issue and ask disabled people "How does this impact disabled people?" Many of other marginalized groups people are working with overlap with disabled people. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Emily points out that working with the disability community helped her realize her own disability and begin to identify as disabled. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Barbara R. Snyder, JD
President, Association of American Universities says university presidents and chancellors need to be talking about accessibility and ableism, at the least because it signals that it's worthy of focus at the highest levels. Furthermore, it isn't just physical infrastructure, but it is course materials, how we design research, etc. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Holden Thorp, PhD
Editor in Chief, Science Family of Journals/AAAS, says that it's hard to do but we need to change STEM/academic culture that has ableist values re productivity, rate, pace, monetization, etc. etc. Implicit in what he's saying is that these things are toxic to abled people as well. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Refreshingly, he mentions that grad students aren't paid enough and that science needs to be more humane. He says most people are not brave enough to say this, but they need to step up and do so.
Moderator asks what Thorp/publishing are doing to make things more accessible. He says that far more people read scientific studies via the news media than directly in scientific journals. To that end they have a large team making sure that coverage is accurate.
(This is a more generic definition of "accessible" - Megan L.)
Angela Lean of Microsoft: Of course you need to employ more disabled people. But you also need to have more disabled people on hiring committees, on panels, on commitees, on review panels, etc.
When you hire disabled people, you need to set them up for success. You need to make sure they have the resources to be successful. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
She refers to a checkbox where someone can check "Yes, I have a disability" without disclosing more. (I think the implication is that more people will feel more comfortable to disclose and thus Microsoft will have more accurate figures on their workforce.) #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
A: Frame it as "we're willing to work with you to be part of the solution" rather than as a series of demands. Play to their competitiveness by urging them to set themselves apart as the most inclusive campus. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Mahadeo Sukhai, PhD
Vice-President Research and International Affairs
& Chief Accessibility Officer IDEA Team, Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and Adjunct Professor, Queens University Department of Ophthalmology pushes back on Barbara's answer that measurement is the same as achieving change. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
She mentions that we should be finding out how many alumni are disabled and involving them. Who's researching, what are the topics of research? How are disabled researchers doing (which she says is measured with other marginalized groups)? [Megan: Why do we ask this and not ask it of abled cis-het white rich men?]
Holden Thorp: Campus activism does work. If it didn't, we wouldn't have ended the Vietnam War, etc.
I agree with Barbara that it helps to work with campus administrators, but they go from crisis-to-crisis. So that means you may need to make a crisis in order for them to work on it (Oh.... @ucaccessnow )
Angela loves Thorp's suggestion to make a Tik Tok of someone not being able to get into the building due to inaccessibility. Because she says demonstrations of things abled people never had to think about have made an impact in rooms she's been in. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM#UCAccessNow
Alison Cernich of NIH mentions the online option today - which increases the participation and engagement. There's a "curbcut effect" of designing things to be accessible to disabled people that makes it more accessible to people who aren't disabled as well. There are opportunities we didn't see before. She can hire more flexibly than before because she's not tied to the "mother ship". She can hire a more diverse pool. #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM
Andy Imperato, moderator, summarizes: "If we start by listening to disabled people, and hiring them, and having this conversation at the highest levels, we'll have better science." #DisruptingAbleism#disability#DisabledInSTEM