1/ It’s time for me to tell you about how Yale treats disabled trainees. I’ve reached the end of the road. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know ( #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #ScienceTwitter).

A Thread

2/ I’m Callie-a current postgrad at Yale getting an MS in Biology. I have cerebral palsy, a non-verbal learning disability, and a few other disabilities. I came to Yale looking for an accessible lab to work in while doing my MS coursework.

3/ I was awarded a diversity supplement in 2018, and supposed to start then. Yale LOST the paperwork, and my PI got the funds, but didn't notify anyone? So I literally was unemployed for three months and subsisting on Ramen.

4/ I was told I'd be a research assistant. I get here and am brought in as something called a PGA, despite NIH giving me funds to be an RA. The difference in pay was in my case, about 20k at the time.

5/ So I rented an apartment based on what Yale told me (yes, I have emails confirming this), and then they hired me as something different because it's cheaper and they didn't want to deal with the union.

6/ It also quickly became clear my then-PI, who by the way, was somehow a pediatrician, had falsified her entire mentoring plan.

7/ EEO agreed that she did, indeed, falsify aspects of her application. We relinquished the supplement. During my time there, I was also touched inappropriately by a postdoc-repeatedly. So was the lab tech. He also was inappropriate with a female undergrad.

8/ So this guy has a history of inappropriate behavior. I tell my PI on three occasions. First, she laughs and says, "Did he do that? I don't get involved in personal matters.".

9/ The second time I brought this up to her, it was in conversation with a technician who also experienced this conduct, and my PI declined to speak to him then.

10/ Finally, I reframed the touching as a hindrance to my ability to generate data. At this point, she finally said she’d talk to him...months after I’d first approached her.

11/ I also approached the office of postgrad affairs with concerns about the ongoings in the lab, and she lied and told them that I did not say these things.

12/ She also stood by while my lab mades made fun of my disabilities, took my stockroom card with funds tied to my supplement, hid pipettes, etc.

13/ For 18 months, she neglected to put in place accommodations . I asked for written protocols - she refused. After procuring the funding, she told me that she wasn’t set up to provide the minor accommodations I requested.

14/ So here I am, a disabled MS student, just wishing to do my research in an accessible environment away from bullying or harassment, and that didn’t happen.

15/ Yale tasked me with staying there, or finding a new lab. Those were my options. So I elected to try to find a new lab, so I wouldn’t go homeless or have to be abused at the bench anymore.

16/ A year ago, I found a new lab where I love my PI, but it's still been hard. I've still had to deal with comments about how I do things being weird. My time here has just been devastating -- and I’ve had to pay out of my own pocket for trauma counseling to cope.

17/ I was also profoundly upset when I saw Yale's Title IX report and discovered that they lied about what I had said. My attorney could prove this, and at we reported our concerns to the Office of Civil Rights. The investigation is still ongoing.

18/ My appointment is coming to an end, and with my current PIs funding situation, I had to find a new lab. After months of searching and hitting roadblocks, I found someone willing to hire me.

19/ Yesterday, I got word that Yale will not allow me to transition to a new lab here, and that administration has blocked my appointment.

20/ Now, I'm facing potential homelessness because Yale won't budge. I had a PI who would take me, and Yale won't allow it. I can’t stop what’s happening to me, but I can tell you about it.

21/ I can tell you about it so people know what this place is like, what they do to their minority trainees, and what the consequences are for us.

22/ In the midst of discussions about diversity committees, learning and unlearning, and doing better, Yale is forcing vulnerable, minority trainees out the door, mid-pandemic.

23/ If this is learning and unlearning...if this is inclusion and access...I fear for the future of minority trainees at this institution.

24/ 1/ I have a PI who is great w/ disabled trainees, willing to take me next fall at another institution, but there are two hurdles: lab funding, and my ability to support myself until then. I can't apply for the GRFP (I mean it's too late anyway, but I still am not eligible)

25/ She also doesn't have funding I could attach a diversity supplement to. If y'all know of obscure funding sources, please let me know.