Firstly apologies for not blogging in such along time! But here you go...
Last week I attended NUS national Conference with the NUS Disabled Students Commitee and you can view the campaigns we are running on the NUS website for disabled students campaigns. The Disabled Students Campaign have recently launched an exciting new logo
It particularly involves reducing stigma around mental Health, with one poster reading "1 in 4 people experience mental health issues". It is a really exciting campaign and if anyone wants more information please feel free to contact me.
Following on from that this week is Depression Awareness week and four volunteers at Mind have agreed to share these expeirence, these are available from the Mind Website and I would encourage you to take a look at what these people have said. Furthermore, if you have or have had Depression whilst at University, there are many things that can help. The Disability and Mental Health Students Association is now up and running and we are looking forward to running campaigns surrounding Mental Health and would appreciate your input, how it has affected your time at University and also a Safe Space to hang out with friends. If you want information about the Association please email me, or disability@guild.bham.ac.uk and we will get back to you! For information on what support is available please check out the Disability and Learning Support Website.
As mentioned earlier, there is now actually an email address for the Association, we had our AGM at the end of last term and the following were elected:
Chair-Emma Atkins
Secretary- Kai Weston
Treasurer- Claire Lister ( to commence when I have finished my role as DSO)
Mental Health Officer-Adam Nawal
Learning Disabilities Officer- John (Fred) Lamport
Thanks to everyone who came along there were around 15 people there and everyone seemed keen on joining in, which is exciting!
As not all roles were filled we are planning on having an EGM in October to ensure that everyone who would be interested in being involved will be able to. I am so excited about the association being up and running and think that this is the start of something amazing. I am looking forward to members of the association challenging me as the officer and holding me into account at Guild Council, for too long many of the non-sabbatical Officers have not been held to account by Guild Council and are doing an inadequate job for their constituents.
Many of you may may be intending to Vote for Students and have already signed the pledge... but why should disabled Students pledge their Vote?
A reason for every student to vote is to prevent the rise in university fees, but it is of particular importance that disabled students vote for candidates that will fight for a fairer funding system. 30% of Disabled people live beneath the poverty line, and this figure is still rising. Asking Disabled Students to rack up large sums of debt is unreasonable, when only 40% of disabled people are currently in work is not acceptable, and we must stand against it!
Additional costs may not be met by the Disabled Students Allowance, yet to find and carry out part time work is more difficult. The delivery of DSA has been quite frankly unacceptable this year, thousands of Students have still not received their DSA this year and this may force them to defer or even drop out of University- Why should we sacrifice our future purely on the failings on the system!
So please sign up to the pledge and vote! Every vote does count :)
Thanks for reading and once again sorry its been so long! :D
Claire xx
