Disabled Students' Conference 2009
The NUS Disabled Students’ Conference took place in Blackpool from 2 to 4 February 2009. Delegates to the conference all self-defined as disabled people. The conference provides an opportunity for them to formulate campaign priorities relevant to their lives as students. These priorities will help shape solutions for the issues that face disabled students in further and higher education.
Motions passed at the conference form the Disabled Students’ Campaign policy for the coming year (July 2009 – June 2010). Delegates were also given an opportunity to engage with the NUS by electing the Disabled Students’ Committee and the Disabled Students’ Officer.
Adam Hyland was re-elected as the National Disabled Students’ Officer:
“I am excited to be re-elected as National Disabled Students’ Officer this year. Before the re-election I have helped lead the Disabled Students’ Campaign in a new direction as mandated by conference and I want to continue the work I have started. Policy passed at last year’s conference doesn’t get achieved overnight and I look forward to finishing the work the campaign started.”
He identified priorities for the 2009/2010 campaign as:
- An Accessible Union
During the recent discussions regarding the reform of the NUS the Disabled Students’ Campaign has been pushing to ensure that the Union has accessibility at its core. Adam said “I have been at the heart of this” and the campaign has led the way in making their events and conference accessible to everyone. Adam wants make all sections of the NUS follow suit – “I need to continue the work I have started this year and make sure that future NUS training events and conferences are accessible to all of its membership.” - Personal Care Provision Campaign
The Disabled Students Campaign has embarked on tackling the issue of personal care this year and now needs to lobby government and assist students in getting the care that they rightfully need to access society and education. - Promoting Active Disabled Officers
Adam said:
“I believe that this campaign has gone from strength to strength as a national campaign over the past decade but now is the time – we need to get more disabled students involved in our campaign.”
The campaign supports unions and assists their disabled officers in making themselves accessible to their disabled students. By doing this students and students’ unions can get more involved in the campaign and more disabled students are able attend NUS events.
Guest Speaker
The guest speaker was Jaswinder Gill from AP Law. His presentation aimed to give delegates a greater awareness of the rights of disabled students and remedies for the problems they encounter.
Workshop on the term Participation for disabled students in every union
Leo gave his workshop: Participation for Disabled Students in Every Union aimed to discuss what participation means for disabled students in every union at university/colleges.
Workshop on the research findings on disabled students’ participation in further education
At the 2007 DS Conference a motion was passed for the campaign to instigate research into disabled students’ participation in further education. This year delegates were invited to a workshop to discuss the findings of this research. The aim of the workshop was to debate possible recommendations in the light of the research findings.
Return to this campaign's homepage or view all articles in this campaign.