A committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will conduct a virtual workshop to address, examine and explore broad issues related to the accessibility and inclusivity of STEM workplaces for persons with disabilities, and to highlight their success in the STEM workforce. Topics will include, but will not be limited to, using an asset approach to define the disabilities of persons in STEM; examining workplace barriers and institutional policies and practices; and better understanding the experiences of persons with disabilities across various types of STEM workplaces, including all types of STEM research settings. Using an intersectional lens to examine the challenges and opportunities experienced by STEM workforce employers, and by persons with disabilities, the committee will commission papers to be presented at the workshop, which will include exploration of the following questions:

• What models are used to conceptualize disabilities in STEM communities? What language and terminology for describing disabilities is preferred by scientists and engineers with disabilities?
• What are the systemic institutional barriers that limit the career advancement of persons with disabilities in STEM?
• How can the concept of intersectionality serve as a means to understand how both personal identities (e.g., race and ethnicity, gender) and systems of oppression affect persons with disabilities in STEM?
• What access and inclusion practices and policies contribute to supporting and advancing persons with disabilities working in STEM research settings?
• How do policies and practices related to persons with disabilities vary across STEM workplace setting type and STEM discipline? How can research across disciplines inform practices and policies that promote the success of persons with disabilities in STEM?
• What are the priority issues that need to be considered in order to address systemic barriers and challenges faced by persons with disabilities in STEM?

A Proceedings of the Workshop will be produced and a dissemination and communications campaign will be conducted after the event.
This workshop is expected to constitute the first phase of a two-phase project on promoting success of persons with disabilities in STEM educational and professional settings. Pending funding, the second phase will consist of two parallel consensus studies, conducted by separate committees.