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Research has found that STEM doctoral recipients with disabilities are underpaid and underrepresented in U.S. academia.
According to a study by the Center for Disability and Health Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, among those who receive doctorates in science, technology, engineering, or medicine in the United States, people who were born with a disability or who acquired a disability by age 25 earn $14,360 less per year in academia than those without disabilities.
A study published in the journal Nature Human Behavior found that women are also underrepresented in senior faculty and tenured positions, such as deans and provosts.
“We’re trying to identify and remove barriers to inclusion,” said study author Bonnielynn Swener, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and founder and director of the center. “We need structural change to combat disparities.”
Previous studies have documented wage gaps and unequal representation in STEM fields among women and minorities in the U.S. Research has also found that scientists and engineers with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed than the overall U.S. workforce, regardless of the age at which their disability began. However, there is a lack of data on disparities for STEM PhD recipients with disabilities.
Swenor and colleagues looked for evidence of differences in pay and representation among STEM PhD recipients with disabilities before age 25 and those with disabilities after age 25, compared to PhD recipients without disabilities. The authors used national data on approximately 1.15 million U.S. research PhD recipients who earned their degrees between 1973 and 2017. Of the sample, 704,013 were currently working in STEM fields, of which 36,807 reported experiencing a disability later in life and 20,544 reported a disability from childhood. Within this subset, the authors matched individuals by socioeconomic background, occupation, and degree-related characteristics.
Across all employment sectors, STEM PhDs with disabilities earn $10,580 less per year than their non-disabled peers, and $14,360 less in academia. The authors also found that people with disabilities are underrepresented in senior faculty and tenured positions, such as deans and provosts. The authors call for structural reforms to close these disparities.
“The Disability Health Research Center aims to shift the paradigm from ‘living with disability’ to ‘thriving with disability,’ and is using a data-driven approach to drive change in many fields, including STEM,” Swenor says.
Currently, more than 27% of American adults have a disability, yet people with disabilities still face many barriers to health, equity, and inclusion.
Source: Johns Hopkins University