role modeLS

Why did you want to work in STEM?

I have always loved space, and when I was in Year 8 I realised I could study it at university and work in space. I was hooked. I love solving problems and thinking around corners. I love doing experiments – designing them, executing them, looking at results – and I love research. As I got older I realised space wasn’t even the most interesting part of physics!

What’s your favourite thing about your job or about working in STEM?

One of my favourite things about working in STEM is talking to other STEM people about their areas of interest and collaborating with others. I love talking to people about things that they love, and researchers tend to be very passionate about what they’re doing!

What are your top tips for a young disabled person interested in STEM as a career?

Find the ways that things work for you and stick to them. Your way of working may look different, but that’s okay. I work lying on the floor with a lap desk and my feet on a chair, but that doesn’t stop my results from being interesting!

Know your limits, and stick to your boundaries. Someone will always ask if you couldn’t do X just once, and if you know it’s going to negatively affect you then you have to be able to stand up for yourself.

If you can’t do it yourself, accept help. Needing to have a lab assistant because you can’t do your own experiments safely is not a failure.

There will always be people who say you can’t, that you’re too different, or they can’t accommodate you, or that you’re not worth it. Find the people who will uplift you, who will tell you that it’s fine that your desk is next to the radiator and you have a nap every afternoon. They are there, and you will find your people.

What advantages has your disability given you in the field?

I wear an insulin pump and it is affected by magnets so I am an excellent magnetic field detector!

I’m also deaf, and completely unbothered by the very loud machines in the lab. Everyone else finds it uncomfortable, but I’m fine!