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Access For All Minutes
First meeting
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1st Meeting. Tuesday Week 2, 4th Oct 2005,
5-6pm
- Introduction from Liberations Officer, Steve,
who is a part-time officer on the Union Exec and
liaises with students with disabilities; lesbian,
gay, bisexual and trans students and ethnic
minority students. His email address is
su.liberations@uea.ac.uk and his office is upstairs
in Union House. Welcome from the Disability Coordinator,
James Dexter. His email address is james.dexter@uea.ac.uk
and is located in the Dean of Students office, Upper Street
level.
- Talk of splitting the Liberations Officer position
down into the three constitution parts, and possibly an
Equal Opportunities officer as well – needs to be agreed
by Union Council.
- We were happy with the name ‘Access For All’
and we talked the Social Model of disability, where
your ‘disability’ isn’t your medical condition,
it’s the discrimination you face from society
(examples given by the NUS SWD Campaign and the
Department for International Development.)
- We were generally happy with the location in
the Bill Wilson Room, though noted that there isn’t
much space for 2 or more wheelchairs to fit it, also
noted that the room is much easier to get to than the
rooms on the top floor of Union House (1.28 and 1.33)
Also possibility of using a room in the Chaplaincy or
the lobby of the Dean of Students (after hours)
- We are willing to change the time on the proviso
that it is advertised as much as possible. Meetings
will be every other week on a Tuesday evening,
now changed to 4-5pm.
- We want to set up as a Peer Support Group –
which is free to join, we will receive Union funding
for speakers, transport to events etc, but we will
need a Committee of 5 members (who need training)
and a representative on Union Council. This can be
approved at the first meeting of Union Council on
Tuesday 18th October (Week 4) starting at 7pm.
- We will continue publicity – such as an article
in Concrete, regular articles in Rabbit, recorded
advert on Livewire, maybe the video station Nexus,
posters, recruitment by James Dexter and word of mouth.
- An idea for a publicity stunt is to invite the National
Wheelchair Basketball Team to come down and play a game,
or to compete with able-bodied students in wheelchairs
in the Square (or SportsPark)
- We will start liaising with University, such as
Estates, Dean of Students, Accommodation etc with our
concerns / praise. Comment made that “how does the
University know what needs to be done?” answer: that
is what this group is for!
- We talked about how we should be encouraging
prospective students with access needs to come to
UEA, and how it’s vital that they should be able
to make their choice of Uni based on the academic
course, not the accessibility of the campus.
- Introducing the National Union of Students
(NUS) Students With Disabilities (SWD) Campaign
– for more details visit http://www.nusonline.co.uk/campaigns/studentswithdisabilities
or the SWD section in the Liberations site.
- We have already some areas on which to campaign
on: one is the lack of wheelchair accessibility
around the Broad on campus (hoping to make a
eco-friendly, wheelchair-friendly path around
the lake) Second is standardising the procedures
for helping students with dyslexia across the University.
Third is standardising the rules on being able to record
lectures (we had a student who was refused it, despite
her access needs – illegal??) Fourth is changing Union
spending priorities (from a wheelchair balcony above
the LCR to more electric doors in the Street etc)
Five is advertising / using hearing loops in Lecture
Theatres more effectively… Lots more to come!
- We will circulate regular emails through the email list – which, for reference, has 30 names so far.
- The group is perfect for sharing skills and giving
confidence to students with individual problems.
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2nd Meeting. Tuesday Week 4, 18th Oct 2005,
4-5pm
To follow
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