Disabled in STEM

I'm often asked to recommend neuroscience books for 1st year grad students or those with limited background in neuroscience. Here are a few books I know.

The only thing I miss about the south is air conditioning! (and Korean and Vietnamese food)

@nisslbodies I bought a ton of this light feel, no scent lotion that I've been trying to use more because I know it's good for my skin, but even with that stuff I'm left wanting to crawl out of my skin sometimes!

@nisslbodies I have strong memories of my mother putting lotion on her legs when I was young, but I have a strong aversion to it because of the feeling greasy bit + strong smells. I do put lotion on my hands regularly, particularly in the winter, and I commonly rub lotion on my spouse's back.

I know it's small fries compared to everything else happening now, but god I can't handle worrying about everything else over making sure everyone is fed and clean

Stove/oven broke within 10 minutes of the dishwasher. Nervous to call my landlady because my sister has been staying with us, and also she's finicky. But also it's taking so much to figure out how to feed all three of us and wash all our dishes alone + keep working.

I am a PhD candidate! So now, with the increased security of my position, I'm going to talk to HR about some of the ableism I've been experiencing with my advisor's support.

Grad student health insurance is a DEI issue. It affects older students and students from low-income backgrounds who can't rely on parents' plans and is a major barrier for disabled students.

@M8Void Yes! And we are all scientists, the evidence is so clear that these don't achieve any goals. Like I've invited them to share a veggie CSA with me instead or plan a daily walk together or help make plans to do long term fun active activities together, but no. I feel sad for them

@StemDisabled As someone who can’t eat a huge amount of foods because they are serious autoimmune triggers and can land me in the hospital, I’ve never understood temporary crash diets except as fodder for the eliminationist weight loss industry.

TW: diet, food My friends eliminating sugar for a week for health reasons is really really triggering some food issues I thought were buried. They do these crash elimination diets that I hate so much.

I'm exhausted.

@kairyssdal on NPR (paraphrased): people are starting to throw around the R-word again so I think it's time we define our terms Me, disabled: oh boy Kai Ryssdal: And by that I of course mean "Recession" You got me again, economists. #EconTwitter

@RamSafeResearch Yes! And when they do talk about neurodiversity they either only mean depression or only mean autism. I feel like it's this broader issue of people picking one type of disability and pretending that's the whole disabled community.

@StemDisabled Focusing on disabilities that can been seen. For example, neurodivergent discussions occur too little, too often. What about chronic pain? Or complications of managed care in the field. Who should know what?

What mistakes do you see #DEI speakers make the most when discussing #disability? I feel like the one I see most often is failing to use community-preferred language or call out ableism in participant responses.

@CC_at_YCTAC Or talking about/privileging voices of parents of disabled kids over actual disabled people in the room. Like Jake just because your son is colorblind you don't speak for all disabled people?

@StemDisabled My personal favorite is the "X-and-their-families" (one word) approach. To hear some speakers tell it, my parents and I are attached at the hip.

@DisabledTechie if one more time I hear a DEI trainer refer to me as "differently abled" I'll scream.

@FunFactsLulu Yes so true!

Once again I am in a DEI training where a participant is agreeing with the racist person in the example scenario set up for us to practice responding to racism in the moment.

I'm back to public, if they find out who I am, they find out who I am.