A creative and inclusive Monash University program to employ laboratory staff with disabilities and bring science to life for those with low vision has been highlighted in the journal Cell.
It is hoped that this publication will catalyse other researchers and institutions to be more inclusive in the workplace and in public engagement.
Monash Sensory Science began as a Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) internship program for people with disabilities and a one-off exhibition for blind and low-vision communities.
Supported by the ARC and Monash University, it has evolved into a national and international multisensory, accessible science initiative involving accessible employment, exhibitions and books championing inclusion in science communication.
The founder of this initiative and BDI researcher Professor Jamie Rossjohn reflected on the opportunities he’d received during his career and whether he would have had them if he had a disability.
“The answer to this question is likely no, because all too often, science is taught and communicated through the lens of able-bodied people to the exclusion of people with disabilities,” Professor Rossjohn said in the article.
“There was also the realisation that in the two decades of running a lab, we hadn’t included employees with diverse physical needs. People with disabilities face huge challenges in securing employment, and I realised that we are part of the problem.”
After contacting disability-focused employment agencies, Professor Rossjohn found some job seekers were prepared to work voluntarily as it was so rare to gain lab experience.
He designed an internship program around inclusion and equality, working with service providers to understand interns’ goals, and the university’s human resources requirements.
The program began in 2017 with three-month paid positions in administrative and technical lab roles. Wise Employment helped with adjustments such as assistive technologies, sign language interpreters and staff disability awareness training.
“One researcher is now undertaking a master’s of biomedical and health science at Monash, while another intern, concerned they couldn’t perform particular types of lab work, pivoted instead to computational biology and is now completing a PhD in genetics at our university,” Professor Rossjohn said.
A notable success story is Dr Erica Tandori, a legally blind artist who joined the team in 2018 via Vision Australia after completing a PhD.
Dr Tandori became legally blind at 23, due to a genetic condition called juvenile macular degeneration, and returned to university after raising her children to conduct art-based research. Among other things, she used oil paint and drawing to show what her condition looked like from a patient’s perspective.
At the BDI, Dr Tandori developed a tactile exhibition to bring the microscopic world of cells and microbes alive for the blind and vision impaired.
She worked with lab scientists and others across the BDI to create large tactile posters with braille labels and large text, 3D models of immune cells, viruses, and proteins, and braille-inspired amino acid sculptures and handcrafted models.
The first Monash Sensory Science exhibition was held in 2018, and it has since incorporated an internship program for people with disabilities. “Most of all, I realised art has enormous potential in research and in communicating science and medicine,” Dr Tandori told Cell.
“I began using food, paper clay, and found objects to make sculptures of proteins, cells, viruses, and bacteria, articulating their surfaces with couscous, pasta, rice, seeds, leaves, clay, paper and other items.
"Trying to invoke connections and memories of familiar things when touched, I was instinctively beginning to develop a multisensory language that could assist blind and low-vision people to grasp more complex concepts in non-visual ways.”
More exhibitions followed, and multisensory, interactive science ‘exhibitions in a book’ for blind, low-vision and diverse-needs readers were developed with the help of Dr Stuart Favilla and Dr James Marshall from Swinburne University of Technology.
“We have also staged virtual exhibitions internationally and brought numerous small-scale outreach exhibitions to blind and low-vision people in community settings,” Dr Tandori said. “This has been a shared vision with my supervisor Jamie, a recognition we both have that science and immunology affect everyone and should be accessible to all.”
Adds Professor Rossjohn: “Witnessing the positive experiences of our interns has been heartwarming and immensely rewarding, and there is a recognition that the key to success lies in opportunities afforded to us in life.
“We hope our experiences can motivate other research labs and institutions to develop more inclusive workplaces, opportunities and educational programs for people with disability. This is where philanthropy could play a role in supporting such initiatives.
"The benefits are not a one-way street – diversity brings a richer, more tolerant and rewarding research environment and culture to all.”
Read the full paper in Cell, Advancing accessible science for low-vision and diverse-needs communities.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.020
Read more about this project on Monash Lens
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Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Spanning seven discovery programs across Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Development and Stem Cells, Infection, Immunity, Metabolism, Diabetes and Obesity, and Neuroscience, Monash BDI is one of the largest biomedical research institutes in Australia. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.