Recruitment of Students with Disabilities: Exploration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in postsecondary education; in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors; in graduate and post-doctoral work; and in faculty positions, particularly in STEM. Despite these lags behind their non-disabled counterparts, few organizations recruit persons with disabilities into postsecondary education and/or STEM careers and, thus, scant literature exists on targeted recruitment efforts. The intent of this article is to examine data concerning these lags, to review what literature does exist on recruitment of students with disabilities, and to report on promising practices developed by the Midwest Alliance, an NSF-funded endeavor to increase the number of individuals with disabilities in STEM. It is believed that these efforts and descriptions may help other organizations recruit individuals with disabilities into their postsecondary programs.