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Activists Around the World: Wanda Diaz Merced · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome stuff. I
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  Speaker 1: never told your production I heard you.
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  Speaker 2: And welcome to another activist around the world. And we
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  Speaker 2: are jumping into Disability Pride Month with a woman who
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  Speaker 2: has made amazing progress for equality and access in the
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  Speaker 2: science world. We are talking about scientists, astrophysicists, astronomer Wanda
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  Speaker 2: Diaz merceb So. She was born in Gurabo, a small
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  Speaker 2: town in Puerto Rico. Diez Merced has always had an
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  Speaker 2: interest in space. She and her sister would often pretend
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  Speaker 2: they would explore different galaxies flying around space, and she
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  Speaker 2: herself had been diagnosed with diabetes at a young age
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  Speaker 2: and her sister was not able to leave her bed
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  Speaker 2: due to her disability, but that didn't stop them from
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  Speaker 2: adventuring beyond the bedroom, which I love. I love that
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  Speaker 2: idea that they had times together where they explored space
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  Speaker 2: through their imagination. And her curiosity was encouraged by her
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  Speaker 2: family to study different sciences, even helping her to get
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  Speaker 2: second place in her middle school science fair, which encouraged
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  Speaker 2: her to pursue her love for science. Her dad and
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  Speaker 2: she would go on ventures, and she has talked about
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  Speaker 2: the fact that she saw shooting stars, which was so
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  Speaker 2: beautiful to her and fascinating in her want to learn
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  Speaker 2: more about that. She went on to study at the
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  Speaker 2: University of Puerto Rico, and this is when her story
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  Speaker 2: became a bit more complicated. So this is from the
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  Speaker 2: w NYIL dot org article. Quote, she had started to
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  Speaker 2: lose her eyesight as a teenager, and by the time
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  Speaker 2: she graduated from secondary school, she was totally blind. Quote
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  Speaker 2: I couldn't even see what the professor was writing on
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  Speaker 2: the board, and I obviously couldn't read books anymore. She
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  Speaker 2: recalls referring to a critical period in her life when
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  Speaker 2: she almost gave up everything, and it was during this
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  Speaker 2: time she felt she had to make a decision quit
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  Speaker 2: or move past this and move forward no matter what,
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  Speaker 2: and she did just that. A friend at the time
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  Speaker 2: showed her a different way of studying beyond just sight.
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  Speaker 2: So this is from royalsite dot org. She spent her
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  Speaker 2: childhood in teenage years fascinated by science and wanting to
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  Speaker 2: become a doctor because quote, that was the way I
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  Speaker 2: thought you used science until one day at university when
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  Speaker 2: a friend knocked her completely off course. He saw me
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  Speaker 2: in the corridor and said, hey, you need to come
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  Speaker 2: hear this. He was doing a NASA outreach project and
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  Speaker 2: played me a live audio of a sunburst, a huge
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  Speaker 2: ejection of energy from the Sun that reaches detectors on
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  Speaker 2: the ground. It was inspiring. I could hear the sun
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  Speaker 2: in real time, and when the sun burst finished, I
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  Speaker 2: could hear the galactic background. For Wanda, whose sight was
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  Speaker 2: fading fast, this solo soundscape gave her a completely new
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  Speaker 2: direction with the exciting prospect of using her remain senses
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  Speaker 2: to study space. So with the experience of soonification, Diasmer said,
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  Speaker 2: stepped into a different lane of science, digging deeper into
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  Speaker 2: the world of astrophysics, which I've heard of the term soonification,
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  Speaker 2: but I never really understood what it was. Andy, did
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  Speaker 2: you know what this was?
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  Speaker 1: I feel like I have a vague idea of it,
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  Speaker 1: but I could be totally your own.
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  Speaker 2: Well. For clarification, BBC dot co dot UK explains it
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  Speaker 2: this way. While visualization might convey information using a graph
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  Speaker 2: force example, soonification presents it as sound. One simple example
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  Speaker 2: of this is a Geiger counter, the increase of clicks
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  Speaker 2: of which denote the presence of raised levels of radiation.
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  Speaker 2: In cosmology, Sotification can replicate multiple data streams. The ear's
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  Speaker 2: ability to differentiate between sounds eg. Listening to an orchestral
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  Speaker 2: piece of music where there's policity of sound is even
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  Speaker 2: more dynamic than visualization, meaning that this method can represent
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  Speaker 2: things that are missed by information shown a laptop screen,
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  Speaker 2: for example. So literally, how you hear it, how much
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  Speaker 2: you hear it, how it collects is what they're talking about.
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  Speaker 2: And the use of soonification has been around since the
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  Speaker 2: nineteen thirties but was not being used at this time.
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  Speaker 2: So though they had it, they weren't using it. And
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  Speaker 2: it was Dias marcetz creation of certification software that made
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  Speaker 2: the technique where it is today and how she's able
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  Speaker 2: to make history in astrophysics, so we love everything about this.
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  Speaker 2: She would soon go on to receive different internships and programs,
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  Speaker 2: including with Roger Candy at the NASA Goddards Base Flight Center,
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  Speaker 2: which was a huge step in her career. Back to
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  Speaker 2: that Royal Society article they write, Bobby taking me on
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  Speaker 2: was really an active trust. I didn't have the required
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  Speaker 2: grades or experience, and I felt like the other students
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  Speaker 2: were talking in tongues. I grabbed his hand and told
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  Speaker 2: him I didn't know anything, but he just said, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not worried. With a support of mentor, Wanda's confidence and
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  Speaker 2: abilities increased. Together, they created prototype technology to analyze astronomical
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  Speaker 2: data that had been converted into sound. What happened with
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  Speaker 2: Bobby is that I I had the opportunity of analyzing
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  Speaker 2: my first data set, using my own way to explore
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  Speaker 2: the data. That really empowered me. It brought me to think,
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  Speaker 2: this is something I can do. I don't have to
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  Speaker 2: sit in a corner thinking of something I can do
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  Speaker 2: as a scientist. And that something is something she's hoped
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  Speaker 2: for for other people with disabilities. From magicenter dot Com,
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  Speaker 2: they write, I don't want people with disabilities to have
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  Speaker 2: to pass through everything I had to pass through in
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  Speaker 2: order to contribute as part of the mainstream. One ideas
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  Speaker 2: merceus determination and brave pursuit of her passion has opened
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  Speaker 2: the doors for a more diverse and accessible scientific community.
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  Speaker 2: As she says, science is for everyone. It has to
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  Speaker 2: be available to everyone because we are all natural explorers.
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  Speaker 2: And again, I love seeing stuff like that, because I did.
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  Speaker 2: When I mentioned this to other people, I'm like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: we're about to talk about astrophysicists an astronomer who's blind.
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  Speaker 2: They're like, wait, what, No, that can't be a thing.
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  Speaker 2: And understanding that she created tools and had something that
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  Speaker 2: had been accessible long time ago but brought it back
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  Speaker 2: so that she could be a part of this community
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  Speaker 2: is phenomenal and kind of said that it took this
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  Speaker 2: long and it took hurt having to do this for
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  Speaker 2: this to be accessible to her. So with that she
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  Speaker 2: would go on to make history in her work, getting
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  Speaker 2: her PhD in computer science at the University of Glasgow,
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  Speaker 2: then going on to hold positions at the Harvard Smithsonian
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  Speaker 2: Center for Astrophysics and the South African Astronomical Observatory. I
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  Speaker 2: believe she also worked at an observatory in Japan, So
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  Speaker 2: she is international and she's been given accolades for her work,
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  Speaker 2: including the Estrella Luke Trophy in twenty seventeen. And this
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  Speaker 2: is her advice to younger generations. She says, my advice
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  Speaker 2: to young people would be to remember that outstanding people
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  Speaker 2: do not become great overnight. They have to keep focused
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  Speaker 2: until they become victors in their mission. Not giving up
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  Speaker 2: is really hard, but just keep moving forward, find good
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  Speaker 2: mentors and be a good mentee. And I think that
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  Speaker 2: we talk about how often, yes, the success isn't there
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  Speaker 2: without people really belie leaving that we can do it
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  Speaker 2: and helping us to go beyond the obstacles that we
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  Speaker 2: often think are there. So I'd love to see this.
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  Speaker 2: If you want to go and listen to more about
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  Speaker 2: her words, there's podcast on her. She's published books about
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  Speaker 2: her works as well, which we probably should put in
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  Speaker 2: our own lists, because you know, that's what we do.
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  Speaker 2: But it's amazing to see her her accomplishments and her
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  Speaker 2: continuing forward and being an example and being a mentor
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  Speaker 2: for others who might feel like maybe it wasn't accessible
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  Speaker 2: to them, but it really is. So we love to
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  Speaker 2: see that and we are excited to see more of
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  Speaker 2: her works.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I was very excited when you said who we're
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  Speaker 1: going to be talking about. I'm definitely going to be
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  Speaker 1: looking into those books for sure. Well, listeners, if you
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  Speaker 1: have any thoughts or suggestions, we would love to hear
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  Speaker 1: from you. You can email us at Hello at Stuffwever
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  Speaker 1: Told You dot com. You can find us on Blue Skype,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Momster podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok stuff I Never
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Told You. We're also on YouTube. We have some merchandise
• 8:03
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  Speaker 1: get where you get your books. Thanks as always to
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  Speaker 1: our super producers Chanler, Casey and Rima, and our executive
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  Speaker 1: producer Maya. Thank you and thanks to you for listening.
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  Speaker 1: Stuff I Never Told You is a projection by Heart Radio.
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