Hey everyone
I have just been elected as your new DSO, thanks so much to everyone who voted. This position has been inactive for far too long jeopardising the welfare of disabled students at the University of Birmingham.

OK so there’s so much stuff I would love to do when I am in office to represent disabled students but unfortunately due to time constraints I won’t be able to do everything that I want to. But some of the things I intend to do:

• Represent people who are getting inadequate note taking support and other assistants funded by the DSA- I have submitted a motion for the February Guild Council to ensure that the guild acts on the many comments I have received about the lack of support. I am hoping that the university will utilise the facilities of the job zone to advertise these jobs. I checked in the job zone and there is no advertising for these jobs. Many students may apply for their DSA in later months so note takers are needed throughout the year not just the beginning of term. If anyone has an issue with academic support workers please email me, it would be good to have a good idea of the number of students affected by this problem.

• Making guild council accessible to deaf students- I have submitted another motion so that guild council can be accessible for all and ensure that every student has the potential to have their voice heard. I have suggested that a hearing loop gets put in place, however if this is not possible that we look into other methods of making guild council accessible to deaf students.

• Strengthen the disabled student’s association- in recent times this association has not been active. I hope to change this by working closely with members on this association to make people more aware of the association and what it does and can do for students. It would be brilliant to have regular events that encourage students to come and discuss their views, have a safe space to socialise with peers who may be experiencing similar difficulties to their own.

Hopefully I will have time to do more things but these are the things that I would hope to do through my time in office.

So thanks everyone for reading, and please feel free to comment or send me an email.
Claire xx