On Monday December 5th you might be thinking that it is just another day, another day when you go into college, maybe go onto officeronline check the NEC blogs or even catch up what is going on in the world of NUS- it might seem like any other day but today it is quite a day- because today December 5th is when the Disability Discrimination Act Part 5 comes into place and when there is increased protection for the 10 million disabled people in this country.

Monday December 5th should be a huge day- a day that we celebrate, a day when disabled activists can be proud of and a day when we can say what we have campaigned for has started to come to fruitarian. Back in February the NUS SWD Campaign ran the Love Is Campaign when we sent Valentine’s Cards to MPs saying that Love Is fair and equal rights for disabled students and asking MPs to ensure that the disability discrimination bill was voted through and passed. The outcomes of that lobbying comes into force on Monday and the NUS SWWD Campaign can be proud to say that it played a part in ensuring that the disability discrimination act part 5 happened. But the question has to be is this it? Have we achieved equality?

And the stark answer is no it is not. I would love to be able to blog that there is no longer a need for the NUS SWD Campaign because I am a liberation officer who believes in main streaming, a liberation officer who believes that in fact what we should be working towards within the NUS SWD Campaign is towards the time when the existence of the SWD Campaign is not needed because disable students are equal, because disabled students are able to access education and because are truly represented in our colleges, universities and our Students’ unions. Sadly, even with Monday happening I think that we are a long way off.

Now don’t get me wrong so much as changed over the last 10 years and we have come so far, but lets be perfectly honest we have not come fair enough. 50% of disabled people of working age are in employment compared to 81% of non-disabled people and disabled people are twice as likely to have no qualifications. And disablism, discrimination and lack of access is still apparent everywhere, even in our Students’ Unions and in our colleges and universities.

I was reading an article in the Guardian (that inspired this blog by the way) and something struck a chord. The fact that the challenge for many disabled people lies in the fact that prejudice doesn’t just extend to attitudes- there are physical barriers too. As a consultant quoted in the article said ‘It’s never been just about ramps and stairs. Heavy doors, small-print books and leaflets and poor signage all create access problems.” And we must ask ourselves what we are doing to ensure that attitudes are changing and that the stigma that exists around disability is removed but also that we ensure that all barriers to being an inclusive society are removed. Our colleges and universities are now meant to be inclusive but if you actually do a quick audit of them, if you spend just 30 minutes looking at the issues of access I can bet that you find that they aren’t.

The disability discrimination bill that was passed in April will also bring a whole raft of changes that will be in your colleges and universities from December 1st 2006. This is a new duty on public authorities and bodies to promote equality for disabled people. Under this new duty all universities and colleges will have to be aware of the need to eliminate discrimination against and promote greater equality for disabled people. In addition the new duty will mean that our colleges and universities will have to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people, work towards the harassment of them and encourage disabled students to participate. This duty is a gift to students’ unions because it means that at last there is law in place forcing colleges to proactively engage with their disabled students and represent what they want. We need to be involved in this implementation of this in your colleges. If you would like to know more about how this will impact on universities and colleges just download it from here

The changes that are happening on Monday are a huge step forward in the civil rights for disabled people but they could have gone further. There are still major issues that need addressing until disabled people have total social inclusion and the same civil rights as there non-disabled peers and you can be rest assured that the NUS SWD Campaign will continue lobbying and campaigning to make sure that these get implemented. Disabled students have the right to equality and this duty is a step to make sure these rights are being met; we’re just not there yet. But we, as students and as the future leaders of this country can play a vital part in ensuring that these rights are met. We can be the catalyst for change so lets start it. Lets celebrate this Monday but also look towards the future, the day when we can say that disabled people are equal and know that it is true.

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