The world needs more scientists with “the invisible edge,” he says Mona Minkaraassistant professor of engineering and affiliated school of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern.
Her inspirational speech at the United Nations on the merits of including people who are blind or partially blind in science won a standing ovation and approval by the President of the General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi on behalf of all 193 Member States.
“We need scientists from all walks of life. We need blind scientists. We need people from different perspectives to find the solutions that have not been solved,” says Minkara, who lost her sight in childhood due to macular degeneration and Cone-rod dystrophy.
Minkara and six other accomplished scientists who are blind presented the Global Science in Braille Campaign during the eighth International Day of Women and Girls in Science in February.
Science in Braille is a new initiative of his Royal Academy of Science International Trustwhich brings together science, technology, arts, and math professionals with lived experiences of being blind or visually impaired to advance the accessibility of literacy and STEAM education for all.
Minkara was asked to lead and launch the Science in Braille project because she was already making strides to support the blind through various projects and her YouTube channels. He knew several blind scientists whom he invited to form this international consortium.
“We are a group of leading experts in our field,” he says. “As blind people, we're here to help make science accessible.”
These experts not only know from personal experience what needs to be done to make science accessible, Minkara says, but they believe in creating educational opportunities in science for blind people.
The Science in Braille website will become a one-stop shop for blind people who want to learn and practice science to find a community and support, learn what is possible to achieve in STEM, familiarize themselves with tools and resources already available and work with advocates.
Science in Braille is also launching a magazine called 'Diversity, Inclusion, Science and Change' which will publish content on culture, current events, history and science created for and by blind and visually impaired people .
Children who are blind or visually impaired often cannot realize their full potential, Minkara says. They are taught low-level classes in schools and offered careers as massage therapists. Some countries don't teach them math or science at all, he says.
Minkara wants blind children to dream and feel for themselves and the rest of the world—to realize that they can make it come true.
“When you're blind your eyes don't work,” he says. “But you're still a complete human being.”
All countries, including the United States, should allow blind children to interact with science, believes Science in Braille. It is ready to help with curricula and support policies that will create tools and change existing education systems.
There are already some technologies that make certain things possible for blind people, Minkara says, and more technological solutions need to be created. Science in Braille hosted a workshop at UN headquarters to show how Braille STEM kits were developed by Twin company Allow blind children to participate in STEM activities that focus on problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity.
“We all just want to be happy and be ourselves. And I want to do science,” he says. “Let me decide what I can and cannot do. Let me decide whether to pursue my passion or not.”
Minkara was born in Maryland to Lebanese immigrant parents and raised in Massachusetts. When she was 7 years old, she learned that she would lose her sight.
By then he had already fallen in love with science, he says, by watching TV shows like “Magic School Bus Bill” and “Bill Nye the Science Guy.”
“I just wanted to know how the world worked,” he says.
It was inspired by the story of Marie Curie, a Polish-French physicist and chemist who conducted groundbreaking research on radioactivity.
However, the teachers at her public school did not believe that it was possible for her to study science. Minkara had to advocate for herself and figure out how to study with her disability. She had not learned Braille when she was younger.
She convinced skeptical professors to let her study advanced biology when she was a sophomore in high school.
“They said I would fail. At that point, I didn't care if I failed, I was just so bored,” she says.
Just by listening, she aced this course and other advanced courses with the help of an aide who read and wrote for her.
Minkara received a BA in chemistry and Middle Eastern studies from Wellesley College and an MA and PhD in chemistry from the University of Florida, supported by a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship.
While looking for her first job, she still didn't fully understand the power of her blindness and suffered from internalized ability. But J. Ilja Siepmann at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Center for Chemical Theory thought it would be a great asset in his lab.
“Because you are blind, you will solve problems that no one else has solved, because you think about things differently,” he told Minkara.
“It was the first time in my life that I saw my blindness as a potential advantage as a scientist,” he says.
She had to change her thinking about her blindness as something that held her to a secret weapon that gave her a unique perspective to find new solutions.
“That's what I call the invisible advantage,” says Minkara. “This is what the world needs.”
But she's not just a researcher, she says. He is interested in sharing knowledge and teaching in the classroom at Northeastern.
Knowledge is a privilege, Minkara says, and one reason some people get closer than others. That is why he believes that science should be made accessible.
“If I die knowing that there are more blind scientists out there than when I started, that's a success,” he says.
Alena Kuzub is a reporter for Northeastern Global News. Email her at a.kuzub@northeastern.edu. Follow her on Twitter @AlenaKuzub.
