| Diary of a SWD Officer |
| 29/07/2005 |
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Date: July 13th Oh my goodness I have realised today that I am a surreal blogger- oh dear- it might look like that I have no life- oops. You see I really believe that these NEC blogs are a good way of disseminating information and what it is like to be on the NEC so I have decided to try and spend at least 10 minutes a day just tapping thoughts into my lap top. I am not sure how long it is going to last but this is usually aided by trips on trains where you can tap for longer- Yahooooooo. Hence why I am a serial blogger and will probably become even more so. But hey what do you think? Is it a good thing that I blog so much and do you find it useful to know what is happening? It would be nice to know what people actually thought of the blogs are do you find them a useful tool? So today it was another day spent in NUS HQ sorting out emails, writing reports, writing the priority campaigns and getting things ready for the new year. Have posted a few new things up (including campaign newsletter, presentations and info from other disability organisations) on the SWD campaign bit of officer online so please do go and take a peek. Veronica and I also started to sort out the NUS Mental Health campaign that the welfare and the swd campaign are doing together so shall keep you posted. I also have spent today kick starting one of the SWD Priority campaigns called Activate. It is all about involving SWD in all areas of student life. One of the things I really want to do this year is put on a SWD sports days with lots of disability sports, disability sport organisations etc. present and ideas about how to campaign about disability sport. If anyone has any ideas about this or would like to get involved in this campaign or even feels that their institution does really well at disability sport please do get in touch. Date: July 143th It’s 11pm but I felt that I had to write something has have got back from the vigil at trafagular square. Today has definitely been up there as one of my most memorable as a NEC member. I spent the whole day at the FE meeting talking with other NEC and staff about the FE Campaign for the coming year and what support FE needs. I have to say I have a great passion for FE and am really glad to see the campaign go from strength to strength and even though I have no longer have political responsibility for FE I still really want to be involved in this part of NUS work. I got passionate about FE when I was an FE officer and that passion has never left me. Especially now as the SWD officer. FE college campuses are so diverse and could teach HE so much about diversity and being equal and tolerance. If you walk onto a FE campus you are able to physically see the different groups of students and you can se the impact that this has on people, the fact that there are such a diverse group of people all studying together. For me as well I know that a large amount of the students that I represent are studying at FE colleges and that the recent government proposals to start charging for adult learning in Further Education will have a huge impact on SWD but also on courses such as learning British sign language. I also firmly believe that FE has a lot to teach HE rather than the other way around. So many officers in FE feel bad because they do not have huge block grants, lots of staff support etc. but yet still they are able to hold active campaigns, elections, events and involve their students whilst working as a volunteer on a minimum block grant budget and maybe not with a decent office or decent staff support. Definitely feel that FE has so much to give and share with the rest of the student movement and that we should all be doing more to support FE and empower them to get totally involved. I also have huge respect for Ellie and feel that she will do an awesome job as VP Further Education. Ok think I might get off my soap box now and get back to my blog- oopsie- me off the subject? Never!!!! At 1150am we stopped the meeting to participate in the 2 minute silence. This to be honest was very surreal and in a strange way eerie. All the staff and officers went out the building and stood outside HQ, up and down Holloway Road there were work forces stood outside waiting for midday to remember, pay our respects and thanks but also I believe to show that London is United and that terrorism will not turn us against each other and will not allow a minority to break the diversity that is celebrated the world over. At midday London went quiet and that was what was so eerie. I mean NUS HQ is out in Zone 2 but still it went quiet- a kind of shhhhh enveloped London. Anyone who has been to London would know what I mean about the London buzz- that constant hum that is always there- in the background, a mixture of traffic, talking and all those London sounds. But for 2 minutes, and I never thought that would happen, that hum, that background noise that you grow so accustomed to in London- just stopped. Traffic stopped, people stopped and we all just stood- thinking and remembering- lost in our own worlds but still all thinking about the same thing- united in that silence. It was an eerie and strange 2 minutes but one that definitely had an impact upon me. After the FE meeting I made my way to Trafagular square with a few NEC and staff. We were going to the vigil that was taking place. At this point I would really like to publicly congratulate and say a huge well done to one member of the NEC who over the last week has done so much work it is unbelievable and that is Jamal. This week I have been very impressed (is that the right phrase??) with all that Jamal has done and really think that he is doing NUS proud. I was with Jamal in the London region Manifesto to Action when the bombings took place. We spoke a lot and I can remember how heart broken Jamal was that all the hard work that he had done over the last 3 years to integrate Muslim students into the student movement could now be jeopardised but yet Jamal has kept going and has not stopped working. Meeting London Met police, working on the vigil, arranging banners, placards, balloons, arranging it so that Kat could speak at the vigil. For me he demonstrates those words that have been sent so powerfully to the terrorists- you will fail. There are lots of people who work very hard on the NEC and I think that far too often we are quick to criticise, bitch and slag off and not often enough do we stop and acknowledge when someone works hard. I know that there will be those who read this blog and will be thinking look at Sian kissing Jamal’s butt and if that is what you want to believe then go ahead- but you don’t know me very well and this is a NEC member publicly acknowledging the hard work another NEC member has done. Jamal- you are a star!!!! The vigil was an emotional event and I am glad that I was there. It was a mix of Londoners, celebrities, TUC spokespeople and emergency service workers reciting poetry, speaking their thoughts about the bombings etc. It was a real opportunity for us to thank those who had acted so swiftly and with so much integrity and hard work last week but also to send a powerful message to all terrorists - that London is united. For me there a number of great speakers but I have to say I was most impressed by Ken Livingstone. He gave a very powerful and moving speech. I have been impressed by him over the last 7 days and have found that his speeches have given me inspiration. Kat spoke really well and I bet that she was nervous- there were 25,000 people at the vigil- but her poem was great and she delivered it in a accomplished way. At the end of her poem she asked that all the students release there white balloons as a symbol of hope for the future. 1000 white balloons went up into the air and off over London and it felt good to think that even those who were not at Trafgular square might see the balloons and think for a minute about peace and though it might sound like a cliché London United. It is odd to think that the events that happened a week ago could alter the social fabric of our lives forever and I am sure it is going to have huge impacts on us both politically and socially but today it was nice to be in a place with 25,000 people who believed in peace and diversity. Date: July 15th Today it was the BUSA Exec meeting which I have sat on over the last year as the NUS observer. This for me would be my last meeting because Judith Niven was taking over the NEC reasonability as BUSA observer. I have to say that I have enjoyed my time as BUSA rep and really hope that the sport officers in our Unions have started to feel part of the movement. Some of my highlights this year have been the disability sport campaigns that sport and activities officers have been running and if anyone believes that sport officers do not believe in representation or politics then I would completely happily say to you that you are wrong. I will still continue to have a link with BUSA though through the diversity in sport work and through the NUS SWD Campaign Activate. I just wanted to say a big thanks to Alex Stacey, John from Essex, Bleeta, Bubble, Steve from SIAD, Lindsey Booth, Rachel from Teeside, Brian from Brunel and Phil Wood for all your support and help over the last year and for entertaining me when I started to get confused about the new regions and leagues. Here’s to another fab sporting year and to London 2012- yahoo. PS Hey guys guess what Wales won the 6 nations- hahahahahahahahha- see said we’d do it!!!! Date: July 18th I left the house today at 6am- ouchie ouch as I was off to Glasgow today for the final 2 day meeting of the National Inquiry into young people and Self Harm. The stupid thing was that Muppet here did not realise how long it would take her to get from her hoe to Heathrow (ah the joys of being new to London). So I arrived at Heathrow as 8am when my boarding gate closed at 810am. Oh my goodness talk about rushed but there again there is something about walking straight into the airport, checking in and walking straight through security onto the plane- beats all that airport hanging around (airports- I can not stand them!!!). And so I arrived in Glasgow for the final 2 days on the national self harm inquiry. The national self harm inquiry has been set up by the Camelot group and by mental health foundation and I was asked to be on the panel because of the fact that I have publicly spoke out about being someone who self harms. The inquiry has been happening for the last year and half and to find out more go here. I have also written a blog about self harm and the inquiry- sharing my thoughts about what it has been like being part of the panel, self harm and the inquiry. So take a look at my blog bit to check that out. Also on my blogs bit you will see that I have asked people to send in their thoughts about self harm in FE and HE for a paper that I am writing. There are a few questions that I am trying to tackle so please look at my other blogs and send me your thoughts. I will say this though the days are very long when we do the inquiry and hear lots of different evidence. On a personal note it can be a bit hard going because the subject is very close to home as it were and there are times when I actually have to walk out of the meeting because it has got a bit too intense or emotive. But I do think the inquiry has been a very interesting experience and will hopefully shed some light on the whole issues of self harm and will also raise awareness around the issue. The inquiry meeting finished at 530pm so it was time for tea and then I had time to chill out. Date: July 19th Up 8am and the self harm inquiry continued from 9am until 5pm hearing more evidence and us debating what should go in the final report. I did spend about an hour at BBC Radio Scotland on a live debate about young people and self harm. It was myself and a very interesting person called Suzy Johnson who has written a book called the Naked Bird Watcher which is all about living with Manic depression. The book looks really interesting and Suzy also runs a web site so go here to check it out www.thecairn.com/. We were also joined by Suzy’s mum Pat Mitchell is manager of a self harm project in Scotland- www.penburma.org.uk . The debate was handled very well by the BBC and enabled Suzy and I to talk about the issues that have affected us. For me the media plays a huge part in raising awareness around disability and mental health and issues such as self harm. Sometimes I have done media pieces and they have really upset me, for example one of the questions that journalists always ask me is how I self harm. Well to be honest I’m not going to go ahead and tell people how I do it, and surely, in my eyes its not how I do it but why I do which is the more important issue. Luckily BBC Scotland had done lots of research into self harm and the inquiry and the piece was really good an hopefully raised people’s awareness. If you would like to hear it you can download it here. It’s 11pm now and I am shattered. Have only just got on from the flight and have to be up and out of the house by 7am tomorrow morning to get to Farnham for SWD training at the University College of the Creative Arts so I am not going to say much else expect night night. 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/271155.aspx |
