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Disability History Month 2020: Newsletter Issue 4

A four-part special edition newsletter brought to you by
the Faculty of Brain Sciences Disability Equity Team and UCL's Disability Equity Steering Group

Interview: Natasha Wilcock shares her experience as a disabled student

How does the Equality Act 2010 protect disabled people in education?
Under the Equality Act 2010, Disability Discrimination is when an individual is treated less well or put at a disadvantage for a reason(s) that relate to their disability; or there is a failure to make a reasonable adjustment. The Equality and Human Rights Commission explain more in this clip.
Can you tell us about the Disabled Students’ Allowance?
Tash Q4 - challenges
What challenges do disabled students encounter at university?
How can individual staff, students and education leads ensure our disabled students have a positive university experience? 
Tell us about a disabled person you admire 
Further information on Helen Taussig
 
Did you know...
  • There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK. One in five of us will be affected by disability at some point in our lives.
  • It is estimated that disabled people represent at least 15 per cent of the world population or more than 1 billion individuals.
  • 65 million primary and secondary school age children globally have a disability. At least half of these (30 million) children do not have a school place.
  • A quarter of employers (24 per cent) say they would be less likely to employ someone with a disability.
  • At the age of 26, disabled people in the UK are four times more likely to be out of work or not in education compared to non-disabled people.
Did you know @UCL
Spotlight on Kay Ulanday Barrett
Kay's description of this photo: "A brown round queer with glasses and short spiky hair performs at a microphone in front of the rainbow and transgender flags. They smile holing a microphone with their hand outstretched"

 

Kay Ulanday Barrett is one of many disabled transgender activists who are working for justice today. Kay is a disabled queer and trans Pilipinx Amerikan poet, activist, and fashion icon.  Barrett’s work discusses race, disability, diaspora, sexuality and their intersections.  Barrett’s art powerfully demonstrates how systems of oppression reinforce each other.  Their work also celebrates the resilience of all of the communities to which they belong. Kay has facilitated workshops, presented keynotes, and contributed to panels with various social justice communities and has a string of awards.
Kay reads from their new collection More Than Organs (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020).

Opinions...

  • Same Difference - News, Views and Information for Disabled People.
  • Siena Castellon, 18-year-old autism campaigner and international children’s peace prize finalist  talks about what being neurodivergent means to her in ‘Neurodiversity – the new normal’ and why diagnosis for girls urgently needs improving in 'Autistic people are really struggling with how uncertain things are'.
  • A recent BMA survey found that many doctors had to struggle harder than they thought for an accommodating workplace. Louise Freeman writes about “Disability: the fight for reasonable adjustments”.
  • In “Once upon a time: children’s books need disabled heroes” Alexandra Strick advocates for children’s books to be more accessible and inclusive, she says “I believe very strongly that children’s books need to change and to become fully representative of a society in which one in five children has some form of special educational needs. We don’t just need more books about disability; we also need books which include disabled people as heroes and heroines alongside the rest of the book’s characters without any reference to the fact that they happen to be disabled”.

Creative corner...

  • Deaf children across the UK sent poems to the Life & Deaf website. These poems show a broad range of positive and negative thoughts and feelings about deafness and identity. Lines from over 50 of the poems were woven together to create a collective poem, this formed the basis of the film script. Deaf young people aged 11–22 years were involved as writers, consultants, actors, make-up artists and producers - “That’s not all of me”.
  • Top critically-acclaimed disabled artists and writers… Goya, Matisse...

Of interest...

  • The Work and Pensions Committee has launched an inquiry into the disability employment gap. The Committee wants to hear from as many people as possible, especially disabled people – please consider participating.
  • Meetings and events are often an important part of our working and day-to-day lives. They are where ideas are discussed, where issues are raised and decisions are made. For disabled colleagues they can too often be frustrating experiences, if adjustments have not been considered and put in place. 
    Here are some useful resources to help make your meetings and events accessible:

What's on...

  • Established in 1984, DaDaFest is an innovative and cutting-edge disability and Deaf arts organisation based in Liverpool. DaDaFest uses the arts to educate, challenge attitudes and remove the barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people to live independently and equally in society. Check out their range of events
  • Thursday 17th December 2020 - Professional Development Webinar: Reasonable Adjustments in 2020.
Contact us...
FBS Disability Equity Team:
  • Manjula Patrick (m.patrick@ucl.ac.uk), FBS Disability Equity Lead
  • Ciara Wright (ciara.wright@ucl.ac.uk), FBS Athena SWAN Coordinator

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