The Saint Louis Science Center envisions an equitable and inclusive society where people are passionate about science and use it to improve lives, transform communities and empower future generations. Through exposure to STEM concepts and recognition of contributions made by members of various communities, we hope that individuals from all backgrounds can find their place in STEM.
As we celebrate Disability Pride Month, we’re recognizing a few STEM-sational individuals who’ve inspired us all to make an impact:
Haben Girma
First deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and an international advocate for disability inclusion and accessibility (1988 – Present).
Haben Girma is an American disability rights advocate, attorney, and the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. The daughter of Eritrean and Ethiopian immigrant parents in the San Francisco Bay Area, Girma was born with a progressive hearing and vision loss condition.
Girma graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 2010 and earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 2013. While at Harvard, she advocated for accessible course materials and dining services, successfully pushing the school to make digital textbooks and menus available to blind students. This early advocacy experience shaped her career in disability rights law.
Before attending law school, Girma participated in international programs, including a National Geographic program to rebuild a school in Mali and a development program in Southeast Asia. She speaks multiple languages and has traveled to more than 25 countries across four continents.
As a practicing attorney, Girma has advocated for accessible technology and inclusive design. In 2014, she helped win a landmark legal victory against a restaurant company that failed to provide accessible online services for blind customers, setting important precedent for digital accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 2013, President Barack Obama named Girma a White House Champion of Change, and she received the Helen Keller Achievement Award. Her memoir, “Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law” (2019), became a bestseller. She travels internationally as a keynote speaker and consultant on disability inclusion and accessibility.
Inspirational Quote: “Disability is not something an individual overcomes. I’m still disabled. I’m still Deafblind. People with disabilities are successful when we develop alternatives to conventional approaches.”
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Dr. Mary Temple Grandin
An autism advocate who revolutionized the humane handling of livestock and animal welfare by understanding behavior from the animal’s perspective (1947 – Present).
Born August 29, 1947, in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Mary “Temple” Grandin is an American professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, autism advocate, and world-renowned expert in livestock handling facility design. Diagnosed with autism in early childhood during the 1950s when little was known about the condition, Grandin’s mother refused to institutionalize her and instead fought for her education and development.
Grandin earned her bachelor’s degree in human psychology from Franklin Pierce University in 1970, her master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975, and her doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. Her unique visual thinking ability—seeing in pictures rather than words—allowed her to understand livestock behavior from the animals’ perspectives.
She revolutionized the livestock industry by designing humane handling systems used in approximately half of all cattle processing facilities in the United States. Her curved chute system reduces stress on animals by working with their natural behavioral patterns. Grandin has authored over 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers on animal behavior and is the author of six books, including her autobiography “Thinking in Pictures” (published in 1996).
Grandin has received numerous honors, including inclusion in Time magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and induction into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2012, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017. HBO produced an Emmy Award-winning biographical film about her life in 2010, called “Temple Grandin” that starred Claire Danes and won seven Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Television Movie) and a Golden Globe Award.
Inspirational Quote: “I am different, not less.”
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Dr. Ari Daniel Ne’eman
Disability rights activist who co-founded the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and became the first openly autistic person appointed by a U.S. President to serve on a federal agency (1987 – Present).
Ari Daniel Ne’eman (born December 10, 1987) is an American disability rights activist, researcher, and the co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). Born in New Jersey to American-Israeli parents, Ne’eman was diagnosed with autism at a young age and experienced significant challenges in traditional educational settings.
After being placed in a segregated special education school that he felt focused on “normalizing” rather than educating students, Ne’eman advocated for his return to mainstream education. This early experience with self-advocacy shaped his lifelong commitment to disability rights and autistic self-determination.
In 2006, while still a college student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Ne’eman co-founded ASAN with the motto “Nothing About Us, Without Us.” The organization became the leading advocacy group run by and for autistic people, challenging cure-focused approaches and promoting acceptance, services, and civil rights.
In 2009, President Barack Obama chose Ne’eman for the National Council on Disability, making him the first openly autistic person appointed to serve on the federal agency. He was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2010 and served until 2015, chairing the Policy & Program Evaluation Committee.
Ne’eman earned his Ph.D. in Health Policy from Harvard University and is now an Assistant Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His research focuses on health services for disabled people and disability policy. He has published in prestigious journals including Health Affairs and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Under Ne’eman’s leadership, ASAN successfully advocated against harmful practices like restraint and seclusion in schools, promoted inclusive education, and challenged organizations that spoke about autistic people without including them in decision-making. In 2016, he transitioned from ASAN leadership to focus on academic research and policy consulting with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Inspirational Quote: “Those of us who are autistic want to see the focus on services and supports, rights, protection. In the parent and provider community there’s more emphasis on trying to cure or fix us, and that’s not something we consider a priority.”
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