Article about Disabled People being Suited for Space

[sasha_feather]

Rose Eveleth at Wired:
"It's Time to Rethink Who's Best Suited for Space Travel"

https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-to-rethink-whos-best-suited-for-space-travel/?mbid=social_twitter_onsiteshare

We need the strongest, smartest, most adaptable among us to go. But strength comes in many forms, as do smarts. And if you want to find people who are the very best at adapting to worlds not suited for them, you’ll have the best luck looking at people with disabilities, who navigate such a world every single day. Which has led disability advocates to raise the question: What actually is the right stuff?

Comments

[starshipfox]

Interesting article -- I didn't know anything about the d/Deaf astronauts, and it's really nice to get that bit of Disability history. Overall, some really interesting ideas expressed there: I'd thought about how moving around in zero gravity might be easier for people with limited mobility, but I hadn't thought about how an ileostomy bag might be a big advantage!

[sasha_feather]

Yeah it's really brilliant! Good food for thought.

[brithistorian]

This reminds me of an article, possibly in Wired, about 25 years ago that was talking about a future Mars mission. The one thing that stuck with me from that article was the proposition that before shipping out, the Mars astronauts should undergo appendectomy and full mouth dental extraction as those were systems that wouldn't be needed during the trip and could cause potentially catastrophic problems.

I think for any value of X, people are going to have to rethink their ideas of what "people who do X" look like, along all kinds of different axes. We're past the point now where we can afford to throw away talent because the people who don't have that talent "don't look right."

[sasha_feather]

Full mouth dental extraction?!?! yikes

[brithistorian]

Dental abscesses are nothing to mess around with then the nearest dentist is millions of miles away!

[sasha_feather]

I want bionic teeth, and I want them now. :D

[brithistorian]

I was about to agree with you, but then I thought "What if they make the bionic sound effect from The Six-Million Dollar Man?" I think I'd still want them. Actually, that might make me want them more! ^_^

[sciatrix]

The article includes a brief discussion of the Deaf Poets Society zine Crips in Space, which is well worth checking out in its own right.

I've been turning up to departmental meetings and trying to explain to my peers (and superiors) why disability perspectives inform my own views of being a scientist and make them better lately. Ideas from the Deaf community and autistic communities were the first places I reached from, trying to explain why I am fundamentally drawn to the concepts of plasticity, of individuals reacting to and learning to adapt to environments as best they can--and how much better might the insights of someone with a different experience of disability than me be?

I don't know if any of it sank in. These "diversity sessions" are only an hour, and most of the discussion was "well, it is hard accommodating for underserved groups; why should we bother/ why should we deal with the costs of doing so, especially when it is so awkward when outside intervention forces us to do so?" And I'm only a graduate student.

But I said it, anyway. And I'll try to go on saying it. Disabled perspectives on science, research, and all great frontiers are intensely important to working out how to do things as best as we possibly can.

[sasha_feather]

You are a hero!!

[jesse_the_k]

Hooray for speaking up.

Successful spacefaring requires people highly skilled in the art of the kluge--solving a problem with unrelated bits and pieces.

Our disabled lives involve constant kluging.

[perspi]

This is such a good article! I've linked to this post from my personal journal, but do you mind if I also share a link over at mcu_cosmic?

[sasha_feather]

Go for it! :D

[perspi]

Yay! Done! I thought it an especially interesting read for those who are into the space-faring MCU. :D

[cadenzamuse]

I loved this. Thank you so much for sharing.

[sasha_feather]

I'm so glad, thank you for commenting!