Mary Kay Howard interview, 21 August 2013

Abstract

Dr. Mary Kay Howard describes growing up in Cleveland with a major disability. She begins by talking about the neighborhood she grew up in, and what she did as a child. She describes how she was moved around in the school system to accommodate being blind. A disability that did not seem to hinder her because she eventually received her doctorate in history from the University of Pennsylvania. She also talks about the problems that faced her for being a woman trying to get a Ph. D, which at times sounded like a bigger hindrance than being blind. She concludes by talking about her employment with John Carroll University and wondering if she would have been in the sciences if a geometry teacher did not limit her from taking advanced math her freshman year.