Hi, I’m Holly! This past year I have been your students with disabilities officer, fighting hard for disabled students at UEA! I am proud of the progress we have made this year for UEA’s disabled community – here are some of our achievements:

• Consulted with the development of multiple spaces on campus, including the Quiet Space, Head Space at the Library and the Warm Banks.

• I’ve helped to write a Union Council motion which calls on UEA to improve their response time around broken lifts and to develop plans to increase accessibility. WE DESERVE EQUAL ACCESS TO EDUCATION TOO.

• I have fought to increase the representation of disabled students throughout the campus, delivering the BIGGEST Disability History Month ever at UEA.

• I have worked closely with the Disabled Students Community (DiSCo) this year- coordinating events, helping to rebrand the society, and being a helping hand whenever I was needed – even helping students find an accessible route to their classes!

Plans:

• Enrol UEA on a campus accessibility app, which helps disabled students find easy routes to rooms, forcing UEA to address accessibility issues. Other universities have this, why shouldn’t we?

• Work closely with the officer team, especially Welfare, Community and Diversity Officer. This role needs to focus more on UEA’s disabled students.

• Create dedicated course reps for disabled students – this will provide great insight into one of UEA’s most underrepresented student groups.