When Edward Wilson was seven years old, he suffered a fishing accident that blinded his right eye and left him with permanent 20/10 vision. Young Edward had lost his stereoscopic vision, and as a result he had a much easier time seeing small, close objects than he did things far away. Because he could see them better than anything else, Edward began to really focus on the little things around him. He became fascinated with the ants and butterflies that other kids failed to notice. This fascination for those little things eventually led to Wilson becoming the worlds leading expert in myrmecology, or the study of ants. He’s also been called “The 21st century Darwin” for his vast influence on the field of biology and it’s hard to even articulate how much he has done for the sciences in his lifetime.
Joan Procter had a chronic illness that often kept her home from school, where she would spend her time with her many pet reptiles. Unable to attend college due to her illness, she studied herpetology from her home and cultivated her knowledge of reptiles to the point where she became THE expert in reptile husbandry. She knew her shit so well that she (a disabled woman in 1923!) was named curator of reptiles at the London Zoo, where her work revolutionized the field of herpetology. If you’re like me and head straight to the reptile house as soon as you get to any zoo, you can thank our patron saint of lizards Joan Procter for building the science that made captive reptile exhibits possible!
Jack Horner had tremendous trouble in school as a kid, and he was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult. Although he had enrolled in college to study paleontology, he was unable to finish his undergraduate studies due to his struggles with dyslexia. However, Horner credits his dyslexia with giving him the superior spatial skills and uncanny grasp on “big-picture” concepts that allowed him to pursue his own path to eventually become one of the most famous paleontologists on the planet. He was the inspiration for the character Alan Grant in Jurassic Park! I was also a dyslexic dino-obsessed kid and my mom blew my mind by telling me the story of Jack Horner when we watched Jurassic park together. Certainly, my dyslexia has made graduate school immensely challenging, but it’s also given me a slightly different perspective on biology and medicine that I’ve really come to value.
This is all to say that no matter what your disability looks like, there is not only ample room for you in the field of biology, but also a desperate need for your unique perspective and abilities. Millions of human minds thinking and seeing in different ways is what has been turning the wheels of science for hundreds of years, and that’s why it’s just baffling to me that anyone would try to deny those with different perspectives a seat at the table.
