2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Disclosure, Masking, and Passing: Graduate Student Experiences Navigating the STEM Academy

In STEM graduate programs, survival can depend less on what one knows and more on how convincingly one can perform normalcy. This paper examines how disabled STEM graduate students with less apparent disabilities use passing, masking, and selective disclosure as survival strategies within ableist academic cultures. Grounded in disability justice and critical disability theory, this study draws on semi structured interviews with disabled STEM graduate students and presents findings through a collectively authored narrative poem. Participants’ narratives show that the labor of appearing “normal” accumulates over time, eroding wellbeing, identity, and belonging even as it enables short term academic survival. The study reframes selective disclosure and attrition as institutional failures rather than individual shortcomings, informing policy, pedagogy, and accountability efforts aimed at creating more just and sustainable STEM graduate education systems. These findings provide actionable guidance for faculty, administrators, and disability practitioners seeking to reduce ableist barriers in STEM by normalizing access needs, redesigning evaluation practices, and creating environments where disabled students can succeed without hiding.

Authors

Dr. D. C. Beardmore http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9900-9571 University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

D. C. Beardmore earned their Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. They are currently the Engineering GoldShirt Program Manager for the Campos Student Center, formerly the Broadening Opportunities through Leadership and Diversity (BOLD) center, at the University of Colorado Boulder. Their current and historical positionality statements can be found at dcbeardmore.com.
Dr. Angela R Bielefeldt University of Colorado Boulder [biography]

Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and the founding Director of the Engineering Education PhD program. She earned a BS degree in Civil Engineering from Iowa State University and MS and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington. Her research interests span neurodiversity, social responsibility, engineering ethics, and community engagement. Dr. Bielefeldt is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and a licensed P.E. in Colorado.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

For those interested in:

Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
disability
engineering
gender
Graduate
LGBTQIA+