Help us to open the lab to talent and disability
8 Feb 2023
Katherine Deane explains how your input can ensure the Access All Areas project enables science to embrace an often overlooked area of diversity – disability inclusion in the laboratory environment.
When people walk into a building, they assume they will be able to open doors, walk up stairs to get to the next level, go to the toilet when needed. Unfortunately, disabled people cannot make these assumptions in many buildings, even modern ones.
Buildings that house facilities that address more technical needs such as laboratories are often even more inaccessible. This lack of access means there are too few disabled scientists in labs today. Whilst approximately 20% of the working age adults have a disability, only around 3.8% of UK academics working in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) are disabled.
We believe scientists who are deaf, disabled or who have long-term illnesses should be able to work in laboratory settings. We think that this aspect of diversity is currently often overlooked. There are solvable barriers to working in labs and these negatively impact on the diversity of the scientists working in labs. This lack of diversity reduces the quality and relevance of the science being done.
Think about it – would you ever wish to be lie on the floor of a toilet? Scientists who have limited mobility and who need to use pads often have to compromise both their safety and dignity just to go to the toilet
Access solutions can be quite simple e.g. a contrasting colour fascia for a power socket so a visually impaired scientist can find where to plug in their equipment easier or a fire alarm that uses both audible and visual alarms. Some are a bit more complex but address very basic needs.
Think about it – would you ever wish to be lie on the floor of a toilet? Scientists who have limited mobility and who need to use pads often have to compromise both their safety and dignity just to go to the toilet. The access solution is a Changing Place accessible toilet, which has a bench and hoist. Over a quarter of a million people in the UK need such facilities. We have installed one of these in the New Science building at UEA to ensure the scientists we are training there have access to this most basic of facilities.
If you are a disabled scientist that has worked in a laboratory (now or in the past), or you have an interest in making labs accessible we would love for you to complete our survey. It will ask about how to design accessible labs, and choose the right furniture and equipment. We want to find out how to adapt lab protocols, equipment, working practices, training, and culture to ensure maximum accessibility.
We know that lab work needs to be shared with the world, so we will also ask about how to ensure consultations, conferences, publications, and web pages are also accessible. All of the survey results will feed into a set of access guidelines that will cover all aspects of working in laboratory settings.
The survey ends at 6pm on 24th February 2023. Please click here to take part (it should only take 20 minutes to complete). All enquiries about this project can be directed to k.deane@uea.ac.uk
Dr Katherine Deane is Associate Professor in Research and Access Ambassador at the University of East Anglia Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
