[NABS-L] [nabs-l] disclosing your disability on a graduate school application

[Emily Schlenker]

Hi, Danielle. As a long time stem student, I can share my experience, but it is only at one University and one national meeting where there were tons of people in the field that I have the most interest. My heart will always be in chemistry, but this seems to be a discipline fraught with academic rigidity and is not particularly friendly to blind students. You will find yourself possibly being railroaded into sitting at a computer all day, or you may be in a situation where you cannot get into a research lab. I’m not saying that this is the case, but it is definitely a strong possibility with chemistry. Physics seems to be somewhat the same way, but maybe not quite as rigid and pedantic. I have had the most luck with biologists and others in the life sciences. They seem to be more open minded and interested in different ways of doing things. As far as disclosure, I certainly would not disclose it on the application, but you do need to give the graduate school plenty of time to prepare for you if you do get in, so maybe that would be the time to talk with their accommodations office. I have been at this student thing for a long time, and honestly I do not trust the majority of people not to have a knee-jerk reaction when they see that someone is blind and they are in a position to reject the application. Lots of people give lip service to diversity, but it is very seldom truly played out in the sciences. I will not speak for math, although it seems to be more friendly to blind students. I don’t know much about engineering, either. I hope this helps.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 22, 2018, at 5:16 PM, Danielle Sykora via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm curious whether those of you who have applied to graduate school,
> particularly in STEM subjects, disclosed your disability prior to
> being accepted? I generally do not disclose my disability ahead of
> time if I have the choice because I want to be considered fairly with
> as little prejudice as possible. I've submitted one application
> without disclosing my disability anywhere in the application material,
> which is definitely the right decision for that situation.
> 
> I am however considering whether disclosing my blindness with this
> second application would be beneficial or not. This particular
> university really seems to emphasize diversity, mentioning unusual
> backgrounds and being part of a minority group on both the application
> and statement of purpose guidelines (not just the generic "we value
> diversity" statement on the website that practically every university
> includes). I'm wondering if mentioning my blindness along with other
> factors (either on the appropriate place in the application or on my
> statement of purpose) would improve my chances of being accepted
> because it improves their diversity; however, I am still concerned
> about preconceived notions the professors I would like to consider me
> for assistantships might have that could cause them to overlook me
> entirely.
> 
> Thoughts?
> Danielle
> 
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