100% accessible for everybody, please! A conversation about disability and research with Kathrine Deane.

When discussing diversity, we talk a lot about gender, race, and LGBTQ+ issues. There is, of course, more to the issue – and according to Kathrine Deane, disability is the next frontier. 

Kathrine is an associate professor at East Anglia University. She has a disability herself, but that doesn’t stop her from being a force of nature – and an absolute delight to talk to. And she doesn’t compromise. She demands 100% accessibility for everybody. She also embodies that talking about diversity can and should be fun.  

In our conversation Kathrine easily goes from the overarching aims and policy goals to the practical advice and shows us how a lot of this doesn’t have to be expensive. Some of it is expensive, particularly if it comes as an afterthought and we have to rebuild or renovate buildings or labs.

We also talk about allyship and how research managers and administrators can support researchers with disabilities.

The episode is edited and produced by Peter Xiong. 

To learn more about Kathrine and her guidelines:

You can find Kathrine’s Access All Areas in Labs Disability Access Guidelines now available here: https://www.uea.ac.uk/web/groups-and-centres/projects/access-all-areas-in-labs/access-guidelines

You can find her profile at East Anglia University here:

https://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/people/researchers/katherine-deane

You can follow here on LinkedIn here: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-deane-37178047/

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