Heather Tymms – Overcoming disability to be a passionate advocate for accessibility and inclusivity

In this episode you’ll hear fromHeather Tymms, an advisor for global engineering consultancy GHD. Her love of STEM began at an early age when a guest speaker at her school explained how you can count to 30 on one hand. Heather also had a strong passion for puzzles and is able to solve a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute!

Heather recalls her struggles at school and how she didn’t achieve the grades she hoped for. She advises that you should never rule out a STEM career based on feelings of academic inadequacy: “A-levels are not the be-all and end-all of everything” she says. Heather went on to achieve a 1st Class Bachelors degree.

Heather describes her visual impairment and the struggles she faced as she adapted to her disability. She says her proudest moment was collecting her degree at her graduation ceremony alongside everybody else; something she had feared she wouldn’t be able to do as there were stairs to the stage. Now she strives to be a role model to support young people into STEM, the same way her school introduced her to the sector.

To learn more about STEMazing, and this week’s guest, head to https://www.stemazing.co.uk/podcast