CELEBRATING STEM STORIES
SAM FRAMPTON
Job Title: Mission Safety Analyst at Civil Aviation Authority
Disability: Dyspraxia
Sam has dyspraxia, but he never let coordination challenges define his abilities.
If there’s one thing Sam wants people to understand about dyspraxia, it’s that not being able to do certain tasks, or to coordinate, isn’t the same as intelligence.
Sam is a space engineer. He started his journey by studying Physics and then Space Engineering at university.
He always enjoyed Physics because he was excited about describing how things work, and wanted to use that knowledge to do something cool - like space engineering!
In his role model video, Sam shares some of the amazing things we use space for every day, like navigating on our phones, as well as the exciting “Hollywood side” of exploring the cosmos.
Sam was diagnosed with dyspraxia in primary school. He shares how he struggled to learn to write, and how this has driven him in his career. Using a laptop is a great accommodation, and he’s grateful that most people in STEM use laptops now.
To help with his co-ordination, Sam started rock climbing, which he really enjoys doing. He tries to climb the biggest cliffs that he can! That’s one of the ways that he overcomes the limitations that he puts on himself, or that are put on him by other people.
Sam reminds us that people without a disability also struggle with different challenges, and that being aware of your disability and knowing the accommodations that you need is a great first step to getting into whatever field you’d like.
Sam’s Role Model profile was made possible through funding from the Howmet Aerospace Foundation.