'Bodies like ours aren't considered in academia'

"Often, academia is portrayed as a purely cerebral field, one where the best and brightest brains rise to the top, no matter what. But this neglects the significant role our bodies play too, from painstaking experiments for hours in the lab to conducting gruelling field work. And the way academia is set up is not irrespective of our bodies. For some, academia can feel alienating, even impossible as a career path, because research isn't adapted to their needs."

"But we're not talking about people coming up to me and, you know, maybe making fun of me or talking directly about my weight. It's more in the lack of thought when decisions are being made. For example, the chairs that are purchased for the lab. One of my advisors was new when I joined, and she had purchased these very cute saddle-type chairs that I did not fit in at all."

Academic culture frequently treats work as purely intellectual while overlooking the material and bodily demands of research. Physical disability and body size can make laboratory, fieldwork, and institutional environments inaccessible, alienating individuals and limiting career participation. Everyday decisions—such as purchasing equipment, selecting furniture, or designing workspaces—often omit consideration of diverse bodies, producing awkward, unusable, or unsafe conditions. Size-based discrimination commonly goes undiscussed, normalizing exclusion. Addressing these barriers requires inclusive procurement, ergonomics, and policy changes to ensure that research environments accommodate a range of bodies and enable equitable participation and belonging.

Read at Nature