Broadening participation in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine) is crucial for vitality and innovation in science, biomedicine, education, and the humanities. Disabled persons’ unique perspectives facilitate improved understanding of the social, natural, and physical world. Indeed, recent scholarship surrounding disability justice has stressed the gains and creativity that come with experiences of disability, rather than simply losses or obstacles that typically accompany definitions of disability e.g., ref. 1. Yet, persons with disabilities are both under-represented² and excluded^3,4 within STEMM. Institutional structures, both cultural and physical, impose significant barriers to participation. Employers and workplace cultures have historically designed spaces and educational processes to accommodate a segment of society whose characteristics fall within a narrow range, resulting in exclusions of individuals (including disabled) deemed non-normative⁵.

The COVID-19 pandemic overhauled the ways in which people participated in STEMM, revealing that existing structures are more malleable than previously thought. Effects on disabled scholars were both positive and negative. We focus here on experiences that highlight how disabled scholars’ needs can be met for a more inclusive research enterprise. Specifically, as “post-pandemic” transitions are underway, we argue that certain COVID-19-related adjustments should be preserved⁶. To maximize post-pandemic inclusion, we urge that provision of supports rely less on documentation of eligibility. Rather, we advocate for an approach—FAM (Flexibility, Accommodations, Modifications)—that provides broad support for all persons regardless of disability category in ways that encompass heterogeneous needs. However, in stressing some of the positive lessons learned as a result of pandemic-related adjustments, we note that this has also been a time of tremendous grief and loss, particularly for people with disabilities, who have been disproportionately vulnerable to death, alongside those from other marginalized communities⁷. Our comments are made not to erase these experiences, but to honor them through efforts to build better futures.