Library Guides: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources for Engineering: Biographies: Engineers with disabilities

Biographies & profiles of engineers with disabilities

According to CDC data, more than 60 million adults in the United States live with some kind of disability. In fact, most of us will experience some type of disability at least once in our lives. Yet discussions of equity and inclusion often fail to address disability, or the ways in which disability intersects with other marginalized identities. Disability is also frequently not addressed in other systems, such as library cataloging—there is no subject heading you can use to find books about engineers with disabilities, for example.

Articles & podcasts

Engineers with Disabilities Describe Creative, Persistent Strategies They Took to Succeed
From AAAS, engineers with disabilities describe their experiences in the field, in their own words.
Living and Working as an Engineer With Adult Onset Disability
SWE member Rose Byrne shares her story about living and working as an engineer affected early in her career by a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis.
Disabled Engineers
This episode of the Disability Visibility Project features an interview with Emily Ackerman, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and a disabled activist.

Books in the library

Blind Ambition by Patricia Walsh
Call Number: Online
Diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor, Patricia Walsh became blind at the age of five. As a teenager, she lost what little vision remained due to surgical complications, and the straight-A student began a downward spiral into depression and hopelessness. But Walsh eventually had an epiphany: if she didn't do something--and fast--she would doom herself to a life devoid of meaning. Today, Walsh is an award-winning computer engineer and champion paratriathlete.
Chasing Space by Leland Melvin
Call Number: TL789.85 M46 A3 2018
Leland Melvin is the only person in human history to catch a pass in the National Football League and in space. Though his path to the heavens was riddled with setbacks and injury, Leland persevered to reach the stars. While training with NASA, Melvin suffered a severe injury that left him deaf. Leland was relegated to earthbound assignments, but chose to remain and support his astronaut family. His loyalty paid off. Recovering partial hearing, he earned his eligibility for space travel. He served as mission specialist for two flights aboard the shuttle Atlantis, working on the International Space Station. As a chemist, athlete, engineer and space traveler, Leland's life story is a study in the science of achievement. His personal insights illuminate how grit and grace, are the keys to overcoming adversity and rising to success.
Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering by Susan A. Ambrose; Kristin L. Dunkle; Barbara B. Lazarus; Indira Nair; Deborah A. Harkus
Call Number: Q130 .J68 1997
This book is a collection of essays based on interviews with women scientists and engineers. Included are Nancy Rhoads and Carol Wilson, both engineers with disabilities.