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Why Hire Engineers With Disabilities? They're Practised Problem Solvers

posted by on Tuesday December 27 2016, @05:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Disabled engineers make great contributors—if they can get past the interview

[...] People with disabilities are under represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) jobs compared with their numbers in the overall population, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau. But those who succeed share qualities of acceptance, tenacity, and resilience. By necessity, these engineers and coders have well-honed problem-solving skills.

There are three examples quoted in the article. I am sure some of you have had similar experiences. What are your views on this?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28 2016, @01:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 28 2016, @01:03AM (#446521)

    bradley13 your strategies are almost exactly what I employ.

    I also take to heart the saying "some people talk about people, some about things, some about ideas."

    So here's something to consider. "How many girls are in her dojo?" is a great segue to sexism and challenges for women and for that generation. Steering conversations towards ideas that *interest* you is the trick, so that you're not wasting your time (you're learning or considering ideas you care about) nor theirs (they're talking about themselves or their opinions, which as an extrovert they love).

    Also:

    > Answer them with sentences, not just single words.

    This! Answering with no extra details attached is, socially, begging to be asked more. I would go one step further: answer with a compound sentence, where the second portion redirects to them. Eg. "How many kids do you have?" / "I have a son who's thirteen and a daughter who's eleven, and they tussle a bit; maybe we should put her into martial arts, so she could hold her own and maybe learn enough self control to not lash out unprovoked. Do you think your daughter has found the training helpful for self-restraint?" It's way harder - that's like, 5 times as many words! - but that short reply can probably get you 4-5 minutes of them talking, requiring only very short "uh huh" and "really?" and "does it work that way in practice?" type stuff from you.