When Data are not Enough: Barriers to Broadening Participation of STEM Students with Disabilities

Christopher Andersen, Ohio University
Michelle McCombs, The Ohio State University

Abstract

Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance was an NSF-funded project to develop and test interventions to increase the number of students with disabilities who major in STEM fields and transition to graduate school and careers in STEM. The project encountered barriers that had not been faced in broadening participation projects that were not focused on persons with disabilities. One unexpected barrier was the interpretation and implication of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On one hand, some faculty and administrators were hesitant about working with students with disabilities because of potential ADA violations (ADA Anxiety). On the other hand, some faculty and administrators presumed that ADA had succeeded in removing all educational and societal impediments for persons with disabilities and that there was no need for additional efforts to broaden participation for students with disabilities (ADA Complacence). ADA Anxiety and ADA Complacence were significant impediments to administration support for sustaining and replicating the model.