Recently, our iDID Director was invited to write an article for the University of Reading's Student Newspaper, Spark*. We thought we'd post a copy here on the blog, because iDID isn't just about Reading, it's everywhere.
As a student with a disability at the University of Reading, I have recently become curious as to how well disabled students are represented and how accessible aspects of the Student’s Union are. My most recent endeavour has been exploring the world of sports clubs and societies, social events and also the representation of student media. It would be unfair at this point, if I didn’t mention, that any lack of accessibility or representation is not caused by unwilling attitudes, it is merely a reflection of a society’s position on disability. I am happy to say that we are amidst a disability revolution in the UK and (as it appears) in RUSU also. A new Disability Officer has been appointed who is looking at the shortfalls that prevent some students with disabilities participating fully in student activities.
Firstly, I shall endeavour to share my experience from exploring societies within the university. My concern was with the information available about what the societies were and what they did. Currently, each society has a page on the RUSU website; most also have either a website or a facebook page: neither of which have a huge amount of space to present full information and a breakdown of activities. The only option then is to either speak face to face with a committee member or email them for more information (which experience has taught me, takes a long time to get a reply).
Surely a lot of time would be saved if there were some sort of information pack available for each society which presents a full and informative account of the activity, their meeting times and any social events; not only for convenience and efficiency but also for the sake of a variety of disabilities and learning styles. I couldn’t help but wonder how scary the idea of approaching a society was if you had M.E. and your cognitive function was sometimes slow, or if you were dyslexic or partially sighted.
The positives of an information leaflet or booklet would ensure that information was available on adapted formats for those who need it and individuals with extra needs would get equal access to information. Every society that I have come across are more than eager to do everything they can to become more accessible to people in general, so I feel that this sort of initiative requires a bit of leadership and direction from RUSU. As I said earlier, a new disability officer has been appointed; I just wonder if he will get the support he needs to make an effective change.
Further to societies, I find it surprising that Spark* itself covers a variety of issues in politics, culture, arts etc… yet I can’t say I have come across an article that represents any disability movements or issues. With this being such a huge social focus at the moment, I would have thought there would be some coverage on the many campaigns and political issues that the UK is experiencing at the moment. The reason I bring this up is not because I am a campaigner for disabled rights or believe that I have more of a voice than anyone else; I am merely identifying an area that lacks representation. After all, accessibility doesn’t just mean wheelchair friendly…
To find out more about Disability Officers and what the NUS is doing for students with disabilites, visit the NUS Disabled Students Campaign Page.
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