Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
Engineering education is plagued by problems of both recruitment and retention.
Those problems take many forms. Counselors, social service workers, special education teachers, and family discourage precollege students with disabilities from entering SME fields because the work is seen as too difficult. Interested students lack role models - engineers with disabilities who are successful in technical fields. When it comes to post secondary education, many schools' lab facilities and computers are inaccessible. And students continue to face negative attitudes about admission into SME courses.