Beyond the Pavement: Expanding Access to Field Science
December 21, 2023
By Charlotte Devitz, PhD Student in the University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, and the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team
There is a wealth of existing solutions that have improved the ability of disabled individuals to work and participate in outdoor recreation for decades; so why is accessibility in field research lagging so far behind? PhD student Charlotte Devitz reflects on the barriers scientists with disabilities face in outdoor research and discusses how she launched an Equipment Repositories for Accessibility at the University of Minnesota—a shared pool of adaptive mobility devices. Her goal: make field work more accessible, one piece of equipment at a time.