| Diary of a SWD Officer |
| 22/07/2005 |
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Ok I know it has been done before but I decided this year starting from July 1st to keep a diary of what I have been up to a la Bridget Jones. Yes it is not original but thought it might be a different way of doing things I’ll probably get bored of doing it like this so there we are. The online diary will then link to other blogs that I have made about what my thoughts and feelings and ideas on other things are. Hope you enjoy. Date: July 1st Back home at last. I will say this I am soooooo looking forward to moving to London- this month of being homeless and therefore leaving with my folks is knackering me and also my bank balance. Spent £80 on a train ticket to London. £80!!!! Trains are just soooooo expensive. I don’t think I would mind so much if they were good and ran on time but the one thing I have learnt this year is the train service in this country is definitely not the best. I tell you what instead of introducing a road poll booths what this government should do is actually just sort out public transport and make it affordable again and efficient, that would so lessen the amount of cars on the road. Not really an original thought but one the government doesn’t seem keen to pick up on. Today I spent the day at the Disability Rights Commission (www.drc-gb.org) where we were talking about how the Disability Equality Duty (go to my Disability Equality Duty blog to find out more) will impact upon further and higher education. The meeting had representatives from across the sectors and it was really interesting. I went into a workshop about how we can promote the duty to students. Had lots of ideas including putting on a conference. One of the questions I did ask which didn’t get answered but hopefully will find out the answer too ASAP is if Students’ Union will be seen as public authorities and therefore have to include the disability equality duty in their strategic planning or if it is just the duty of their parent institution. It’s going to be interesting but I really hope that the equality duty will fundamentally change this country’s culture about disability and hopefully really start to get rid of disablism. I definitely welcome the duty and hope it will have a huge impact. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/ouch to find out more about the duty and what others think. Date: July 4th Was meant to go to London today because Ellie was starting as VP FE but I went to the bank and it showed how much I had in my account and there was no way that I could afford a train ticket. Was so annoyed. So it meant a day working at home for me which was quite good actually and give me a real chance to catch up with myself. Started writing the July swd newsletter and also started writing the swd accessible student venues and bars. These will be sent out to unions but also be available on the web. I really want to get as many briefings done as possible this year ad really start to use the web as a campaign area so any thoughts about what we can do please do get in touch. The day also give me a chance to catch up with my blogs. As you can tell I really like blogging. I think that it is a really good way to let people know what I have been done, issues but also for you to hold us to account but what I’d love to know is it people find these blogs useful? What are your thoughts? Get in touch. Date: July 5th Today I was meeting Ele the SWD rep on LGB committee and then going to meet a couple of the new sabbs of Swansea. I also had a long chat with the journalist who is arranging the Times Higher Accessible Awards of which I am a judge. He wanted to have a chat to me about the short list and we had a long discussion about disability access and universities. It was interesting really because lots of institutions have submitted themselves as innovative models of practise and for innovative ways of supporting disabled students in higher education. I totally think that there is some really good practise out there and some really innovative ideas but for me what is the issue is the fact that this happens in small pockets in institutions and is not institution wide. For me I don’t know one single institution that is totally and utterly accessible physically, in attitude and culture and that is wrong (please correct me if I am wrong). The Disability Discrimination Act is having an affect but I still think that we have a long way to go and whilst pockets of practise and individual people do champion the cause and are having impact enough is still not being done and we have so much more still to fight for. The meeting was Ele went really well and we talked about disability training amongst other things. Through conversations with her I have realised lots of Unions have a need for this so will get onto writing some up and maybe a briefing on how to provide disability training. Will keep you posted. Date: July 6th Was in HQ today for Ellie’ induction which was great. I have really enjoyed the FE work that I have being doing over the last 12 months but it is brilliant to hand over to someone who is so passionate about FE and who I believe will be an awesome VP FE. It really is a positive move forward but I know I will still take an interest and support FE and it won’t just be some rhetoric that gets rolled out around January time when it is conference time (me, cynical? Never!!!!) It was then off to the NEC emergency meeting- have to say it was a bit sad that this was the first NEC meeting of the year as it could have polarised the NEC, especially after we all got on so well at induction but actually I came out of the meeting feeling much more positive. I think lots of things were clarified about the investigation and people also had more of an idea about what was going on . I for one really want the investigation to be over so that we can start to move forward and implement some of the recommendations and hopefully all start to move positively in the same direction, towards a NUS which all students feel that they can be engaged in no matter faith, creed, nationally, age, disability, sex or gender. NUS must always put equal opportunities at the heart of everything that we do and continue to campaign on these issues. Then spent the night at Veronica’s lovely new flat as I am still not London based- but yahooooo will have the keys to the new flat on Saturday and I can tell ya this am quite excited and relieved- yay a home at last, no more commuting. Yahooooooo!!!!!! Date: July 7th Well what can I say, today has been a long long day that has been emotionally draining. Find out my thought sin my London Bombings blog but for me the day started at 9am when I left Veronica’s to get to Reading. At that point I couldn’t get on a tube and was told to go to the next tube station. So I did, along with goodness knows how many other commuters all stressing about the fact that they couldn’t get to work. At that tube station we were tube there was a massive power cut and all the tubes were down, there were also rumours about 3 explosions but wasn’t quite sure what was happening. I decided that instead of trying to get into central London to get a train to Reading maybe I should try and get out of London and onto a train at a train station on the outskirts so jumped onto a very packed bus after queuing for an hour or so. Was in contact with other NEC members as we were all over London and no one was quite sure what was going on, but have to say at this point had no idea what actually had happened. It was sonly really on the bus that I thought hang on something major has happened as the bus driver was telling us all to keep an eye out for suspicious bags and to keep our belongings close to us- I have never ever heard a bus driver say this before and then he announced that zone 1 was being shut down to public transport. I quickly phoned Veronica at home to see what was going on and to let her know as she hadn’t started the journey yet. This is when I actually found out about the bombings. Veronica was at home and watching the news and between us decided it was maybe better if I got off the bus. I was now somewhere in south London and was thinking, right what do I do. I was meant to be at manifesto to action in Reading for the London region, spoke to the regional officer and lots of the region had been able to get out of London so thought I’d walk to the nearest train station and see if I could get to Reading. Luckily I could. The train journey was made up of lots of frantic calls to check friends and colleagues were ok and answering texts to let people know I was ok. I arrived at Reading Uni (which have to say is such a beautiful campus) where we were having a discussion about should the training continue as it had had an impact on people especially the London region. After debate we decided to give people an hour just to chill, to make phone calls and to watch the news. Then training begun. I actually really enjoyed the training and it was great to meet the new officers in London. The night was spent with London and the South East socialising in the bar. Date: July 8th It was the final day of the NUS Manifesto to Action today. We spent the morning with the different officers networking, seeing ways that they can work together and also ways that NUS can support them in their role. The final half hour of the day was spent discussion ways that the London region can work together as it is a region that is quite unique. The after effects on yesterday were definitely felt and I think that all there were concerned about hope the bombings were going to impact upon student communities in London and also racial relations on campuses. For many in London, and I think across the student movement, it is a worry that racial hatred will increase and that the bombings will be a catalyst for racial/religious attacks and will give groups like the BNP encouragement to incite racial hatred. It was strange watching the news with London and knowing the impact that was going to be felt would be on those in the room- it is not know if students numbers will be down and at this point what impact these bombings will have on campuses in London. It was great to see the way that the region was pulling together though and was determined to stay united and wanted to be supported by NUS. Jamal and myself said we would take the thoughts and comments from the London region to the NEC meeting on Monday. All in all it has been a strange week- one that I would never want to repeat and as I got the train home I was wondered if London and the UK would be the same. Date: July 10th First of all it was into HQ to get the Hidden Disability briefing and the NUS SWD Campaign newsletter reading for the next NUS mailing. It should be out in Unions soon but also you can download on the NUS SWD part of the web site. Today it was the first NEC meeting- NEC meetings- oh how I love them. Can you imagine what it is like putting 30 odd strongly opinionated people in one room together? Well you get the picture!!!! The strange thing is that if you speak to anyone on the NEC they too actually hate the NEC meetings. After 13 months I have realised that the NEC meetings like conference is the best and the worst of the NUS. It is a chance for people to come together, debate, challenge thoughts and ideals but at time sit can be the most frustrating place ever where people are trying to undermine each other. There are times when I come out of NEC meetings frustrated, angry and feeling like it was a waste of time and there are other times were in a way I find them inspirational and they can actually motivate you to do more. And today yet again proved to be one of those days. The meeting started with along discussion about the bombings in London. It was actually good to see the NEC completely united around one issue, because believe you and me that does not happen very often!!!! But then something like last Thursday was so huge there is no way that you can not put aside our differences political and whatever differences we have. We as a NEC decided that we wanted to be united about condemning these attacks, supporting those who had lost friends and family and also say that we were united for a peaceful future. It was decided that after the actual NEC meeting we would sat together to decide how NUS would react. Then it was NEC responsibility teams. I have been allocated onto are the affiliation, strategy, SU development and equal opportunities. I was really happy with these- yay. I actually believe that it is really important as a liberation officer to be involved in different areas of NUS because I am a national officer and I also think it proves that students with disabilities can do so much more than just the work of SWD- if that makes sense at all!!! Then it was onto the priority campaigns. These will be launched on September 1st in London. This event is going to be awesome and is free for students officers to attend so I really encourage everyone to come along and get involved. After the official business of NEC we meet as a NEC to discuss how we would respond to the bombings on Thursday. The main worry for many of us was that racial hatred would start- it was concerning that since Thursday that many Muslim leaders have received hateful emails and that people have started to attack mosques. As a NEC we are supporting the vigil that is happening on Thursday in Trafalgar Square, we will stand united under the banner Against Racism, Against Terrorism, Against War- Students United for a Peaceful Future. WE also have a statement that is online. All in all it was a ok day, as I said always leave NEC meetings a bit frustrated but actually today we were united on a couple of things- which was good. Last Thursday definitely puts things into perspective!!!! Date: July 11th Today it was a quiet day spent in the office catching up with emails and other things so not much to write about. Date: July 12th Another day catching up on emails and stuff. The Blogs on this site represent the individual views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or practices of the National Union of Students. All links in blogs will open in a new browser window. The permanent URL for this specific blog entry is: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/blogs/siandavies/271107.aspx |
