This past Dec. 3, 2021 EASM held its first annual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in conjunction with 500 Women Scientists and sponsored by the Disability Health Research Center. Read more about it HERE in the Hopkins News-Letter and read some quote excerpts below about the event (and be sure to be on the lookout for the return of this event next year).
“The thing that a lot of people with disabilities generally in academia struggle with is having a sense of community. Almost everyone that I talk to, that’s like their number one complaint, and I think that this [event] is something where we can show all of the people that exist in our field who we can feel connected to and have that sense of belonging that everyone feels is missing right now.” -Erica Avery, co-organizer
“Working together, creating these pages, doing these action-oriented things to help increase representation of disabled scientists and clinicians in STEM — I want to see that bring our community closer together.” -Nicole Pannullo, co-organizer
“The edit-a-thon showing us that there are role models in the field and bringing that into Hopkins as a workshop may make more staff and faculty willing to be more communicative about their own struggles and their own disability.” -Nicole Vigiano, co-organizer.
“This [event] is a really great way for us to celebrate people with disabilities and to create these Wikipedias to show that there are a lot of successful scientists and clinicians out there with disabilities and that these people can serve as positive role models and inspirations for people with disabilities who may not be sure if they belong in science or medicine when they do.” -Nicole Pannullo, co-organizer.
“I hope that when a little kid who has some kind of disability and their parent google ‘disabilities’ or ‘someone in STEM with disabilities,’ we can make something pop up.” -Nicole Vigiano, co-organizer
“We want to normalize having a disability in the workforce and really reiterate that we’re everywhere; we’re all around you and you just don’t know it. So when you go to read that book or look up this famous person, that you can see that in addition to having all of the success they’ve had, they also have a disability,” she said. “Hopefully the people participating and writing can take solace in knowing that they are providing that for a greater community than just ourselves.”-Erica Avery, co-organizer
Equal Access in Science & Medicine 