Technology Change as the Great Equalizer

Dimitri Kanevsky is being recognized as a Champion of Change for leading education and employment efforts in science, technology, engineering and math for Americans with disabilities.

I’m honored to work in the field of technology and to be included as a White House Champion of Change.

Technology is the great equalizer that can dramatically improve the quality of a person’s life through the click of a mouse button. Technology is constantly evolving to remove barriers that emerge due to a person’s social characteristics, geographic location, physical or sensory abilities.

There are many examples of how technology is leveling the playing field and opening up doors for all citizens. For example, communication technologies allow people to work from home, making mobility disabilities less relevant. Development in transcription technologies makes it possible for people who have hearing loss to participate in meetings in the workplace and advance their education more easily.

Raising Expectations to Change Lives

Virginia Stern is being recognized as a Champion of Change for leading education and employment efforts in science, technology, engineering and math for Americans with disabilities.

My husband, Bob, and I are parents of four now-adult children, two of whom have disabilities. We knew that each of them needed the best possible education, disabled or not. I remember so well when the #504 Regulations of the Rehab Act were signed in May 1977, opening up programs in higher education for qualified students with disabilities. Citizens with disabilities held demonstrations in many U.S. cities to initiate this critical effort for civil rights. There were huge barriers to overcome--physical, technological, attitudinal, and social. I was already an advocate, but this battle inspired me to join the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the country's largest interdisciplinary science and engineering organization, and become a leader in its fledging Project on Science, Technology, and Disability, working to highlight lives of people with disabilities in STEM careers so they could serve as mentors to younger students.

Making a Difference for Students with Disabilities in STEM Education: Understanding Facilitators and Barriers to Success

Maria Dolroes Cimini is being recognized as a Champion of Change for leading education and employment efforts in science, technology, engineering and math for Americans with disabilities.

As a scientist-practitioner with a disability, I have been inspired by a number of leaders and mentors living in our great nation, and I am honored to have the opportunity to give back to our country by having been selected as a Champion of Change. In reflecting on my own experiences as a scientist and woman with a disability, I have come to realize the many ways in which my own life challenges have been transformed into my passion to support access to STEM for students with disabilities. 

There have been many advances in education, legislation, and access for students with disabilities in the United States in recent decades. However, for students with disabilities and the family members, faculty, advocates, and employers who work with them, technological advances, legislation, accessible environments, and global communications are not always enough to illuminate the pathway to STEM. Barriers remain in the transitions at many levels from schools to workplace and careers. Students and gatekeepers in education and employment continue to need existing proof of achievement to change the stereotype of what people with disabilities can accomplish in STEM disciplines.