By Christopher Fish and Natasha Hirst
Between the 10th and the 12th of February, over sixty delegates from universities around the United Kingdom travelled to the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool for the 2003 National Union of Students' Disabilities Conference. An annual event, this year's conference was to be particularly important for two reasons. Firstly, 2003 is the European Year of Disabled People and therefore a prime time to raise awareness of issues affecting those with disabilities on a national and, even, international level. Secondly, closer to home, in September of 2002, Part IV of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 came into force - it is this part of the Act which covers post-16 further and higher education providers.
The opening keynote speech of the Conference was delivered by Diane Keech, the Development Officer (Education) of the Disability Rights Commission. Ms Keech spoke on the powers and work of the Disability Rights Commission in ensuring that the rights and needs of disabled people under the Disability Discrimination Act are upheld and also extended in the future.
Indeed, one of the most important issues discussed at the Conference was that, although the Disability Discrimination Act is an important milestone in the progress of the disability rights movement, it is far from adequate. Several delegates pointed towards the peppering of the Act with the phrase "fair and reasonable adjustments" providing an all too easy defence for those who would not comply with the Disability Discrimination Act by altering their practices to accommodate the needs of disabled people. In comparison to legislation covering discrimination on sexual or racial grounds, it was felt that disability legislation falls a very poor second.
Both on the conference floor and in the bar, many other issues facing disabled people were discussed. For instance, the notion that disabled students are afraid to "come out" at university was high on the agenda. Many students who suffer from unseen disabilities such as Dyslexia or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) are often afraid to admit to this for fear of becoming stigmatised by their peers. In many cases the effect of this can be just what the person was trying to avoid. By concealing their learning difficulties, and therefore receiving no additional support, a student may find that they cannot keep up with the demands of their course and as a result can suffer lower marks and poorer performance in tutorial situations. This leads to their being perceived as 'slow' or perhaps even 'stupid'. Without the understanding of their difficulties by their fellow students or lecturers, the situation they find themselves in could ultimately result in them leaving education altogether. Indeed, a pre-emptive feeling of demoralisation before the student even reaches university may result in their never actually commencing a course.
In addition to the debates and necessary business matters (elections, reports and the like), several workshops were held throughout the conference. The Royal National Institute for the Blind spoke on the difficulties facing the visually impaired, whilst the Disability Rights Commission continued the theme of Diane Keech's opening address by further discussing the DDA and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Act 2001 (SENDA). A third workshop was held jointly by Stephen Brookes MBE, the Disabilities Consultant for the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, and Darren Stott, a Manchester based Mental Health and Disabilities Legal Advocate. Messrs Brookes and Stott spoke on the social representation of disability and the negative effects it can have on the public perception of those who are disabled. One alarming statistic mentioned was that, of all those working in the mainstream media, disabled people constitute only 0.9% of employees and 0.4% of freelancers.
Statistics like these serve to highlight the ongoing problems that disabled people face even today in the new millennium. In the face of what many perceive to be an uncaring or perhaps even incompetent government, it is perhaps only through campaigning and conferences like this that students, and other members of society, will succeed in having their voice heard. It is the sincere hope of those who are involved with the disabilities movement that in this year, the European Year of Disabled People, and beyond, that the perception of disabled people and their access to such privileges as education and training will continue to improve and that, one day, disability will cease to be an issue in our society.
As for the specifics acehived at SWDC, 7 motions were discussed, and there were a large number of amendments on the following topics:
Funding, Finance and Support
Mental Health
Civil Liberties
Dyslexia and Other Disabilities
Including Special Regions
Top-up Fees
Attitudes and Awareness
Main points include:
-Special regions now have voting places on committee, and a black students position has been created (subject to ratification). Policy was also passed to review the committee structure.
-SWD Officer and committee are mandated to lobby and campaign on and inform SWD about Education Funding issues specific to SWD, as well as to submit policy on SWD funding issues to national conference. Top up fees are to be opposed.
-A student focussed working group is to be set up for students with experience of mental health distress, and SWD campaign should work with NUS VP welfare on mental health initiatives and to take part in consultation on any proposed mental health legislation.
-Campaigning/work is to continue on SENDA and the DDA and the Disabled Students Allowance review.
-European Year of Disabled people is to be promoted and regional, and national training and networking events are to be organised to promote the SWD campaign and allow more students to get involved with the work of the campaign.
-Mandates for committee and officer to run at least 8 open disability awareness days, one in each NUS region.
-SWD officer is mandated to organise training on accessibility for NEC and staff, for committee to produce a guide to accessible documentation and to seek sanctions when SWD policy is not adhered to. Mandates officer to organise disability awareness training for the NEC.
-For SWD campaign to continue supporting the British Sign Language Campaign, and for Officer and committee to receive Deaf Awareness training and to learn some basic BSL.
-For SWD committee to receive traing to enable them to do their job and carry out regional responsibilities.
-To lobby all VC's to express concerns at lack of consideration of SWD during the firemans strikes.
SWD Conference, the negative side
SWD Conference, the positive side
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Funding Campaign- Tools, Information & Advice.
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Charles Clarke has now delivered the White Paper which will map out student and university funding in the future.
As expected it contains a lot of bad news, with debts of over £20k planned and funding cuts in other areas which will see us move closer to a two-tier system of Higher Education.
So here is a resource centre for student activists to help oppose the proposals.
White Paper Summary & what you can do
 | Left A poster template for
the national lobby. To access a word version RIGHT click here and choose 'save target as'
Right If you can get them done, here's a template of a postcard to send to MPs. Click Here to see more |  |
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Amnesty International say a letter is worth ten protesters,
so here's the easy way to get a letter to your MP. You may not believe this, but not all MPs have published email addresses.
However, you can go straight to a web based fax form just by entering your postcode. More Info and Petitions
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