Disabled Students' Officer Update

This summer I've spent some time working on my DSO role, though admittedly maybe not as much as I'd have liked! It turned out that studying got in the way, and throughout my final year I will be balancing study with this role and trying not to let either of them slip!

My goals for this summer were:

"Other goals this summer include starting to work out where safe campaign-free routes across campus could go, to propose to the Demoks at the start of next year, looking into the costings of adapted vehicles, large and small, with relation to the Sshh bus and transport home for wheelchair using students, finding out how much it would cost to train a mental-health first aider, and looking into how we’d fundraise for that, doing some research into Disabled Students Allowance and hopefully preparing the leaflet on it to circulate to students, making contact with the local Save Our Services group so that we can be aware of cuts that might affect the provision of health, and especially mental health, services locally, researching local community groups that we could engage with, making contact with The Village about adapted shower usage, and linking them up with the SU and Educational Support Office if possible so that students can be aware of its availability, researching local adapted sports teams, finding out the state of affairs with wheelchair / adapted sports and BUCS, writing a motion on general meetings and access breaks, finding out what other universities do about lecture notes and how that benefits disabled students at those universities, catching up with the access to Founders’ Library campaign, get started on the pack regarding benefits available to disabled students, and setting up the facebook groups (one open to anyone who wants to work on or be involved with disabled students related issues at Holloway, and the other for disabled students at Holloway only)."

Of those, I haven't achieved as much as I wanted!

• I've worked on safe campaign-free routes across campus, and am looking forward to sitting down with the Democracy officer and asking whether we can set those routes to be without campaigners. They're often a longer way round, which isn't ideal, but is better than nothing.
• I haven't yet managed to sort out the bus issue - I've tracked the fact that they come via the University, and I've looked at costs of buying them, but I think the next step is to approach the university about that.
• I've looked into mental health first aid training, and it would cost £200-300, but I haven't started looking at fundraising for that yet
• I've done reading for the Disabled Students Allowance, and Disabled Living Allowance / Personal Independence Payments leaflets, but haven't managed to design the leaflets yet. I am a step forward on them though
• I haven't contacted the loacl Save Our Services group
• I also haven't contacted The Village
• I've looked into more local adapted sports teams, and there might be some exciting news about that come September, but no promises yet. I'm also looking into asking the University for funding for disabled students to access sports
• I haven't managed to look into adapted sports and BUCS
• I've drafted a motion on general meetings and access breaks and would welcome feedback on it: 

"This Union Notes:-General meetings can be very long-There is currently no policy on access breaks during general meetings, and they are instead the decision of the chair
This Union Believes:-Having a regular break during a general meeting would enable people to get drinks and use the toilet without having to miss debate
-Having these breaks will make the meetings easier for people who struggle with concentration, sitting still, health problems, the intensity of the meetings, or many other issues

This Union Resolves:
-To implement a policy of access breaks
-That these access breaks should happen as soon as there has been 90 minutes of meeting time since the previous access break
-That these access breaks can be called by the Union Chair before the 90 minute point if they are deemed necessary, whether for the health of the meeting, to avoid them interrupting debate, or for other reasons
-That this does not preclude other breaks being called at any point, it simply ensures there will be one at least every 90 minutes

This Union Mandates:
The Union Chair to follow this policy"-Having these breaks will make the meetings easier for people who struggle with concentration, sitting still, health problems, the intensity of the meetings, or many other issues
This Union Resolves:-To implement a policy of access breaks-That these access breaks should happen as soon as there has been 90 minutes of meeting time since the previous access break-That these access breaks can be called by the Union Chair before the 90 minute point if they are deemed necessary, whether for the health of the meeting, to avoid them interrupting debate, or for other reasons-That this does not preclude other breaks being called at any point, it simply ensures there will be one at least every 90 minutes
This Union Mandates:The Union Chair to follow this policy"

• I haven't caught up with the Access Founders' Library campaign yet
• I've been working on ways to make myself more contactable:

Twitter: @SURHULDisabled
Email: surhuldisabled@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SURHULDisabledStudents

I'm also working on setting up a group of disabled students - hopefully the ESO will send an email around about that soon.
Finally, I'm off on Monday to train People and Planet interns on how to make campus groups more accessible to disabled students.

Maybe not as much as I'd hoped, but it's been a productive summer! As always, feel free to contact me.

Putin: autocrat of hate

"Homophobia - religion of bullies"

The steady increase in homophobia in Putin's Russia is well-documented, but now the hate is finally gaining international attention in the run-up to the 2014 Sotchi Winter Olympics.

Last month, Putin passed a bill banning all propaganda presenting "non-traditional sexual relations" in a positive light. This was initially just for minors, but now is being used to crackdown on all gay propaganda across the whole of Russia. This means that anyone saying something as simple as "homosexual relationships are as valid as heterosexual relationships" face fines of 4,000-5,000 rubles (£80-£100). Public officials are fined 10 times that, and organisations it is £155,000-£200,000. On the internet this increases to £1000-£2000 for individuals, £2000-£4000 for public officials and £200,000 or a 90-day suspension for organisations.

It gets worse.

For foreigners, not only do you get a fine (£80-100 in real life or £1000-£2000 on the internet) but you also get deported. Yes. Deported.


This is horrendous for a number of reasons.

Firstly it institutionalises the homophobia peddled by the Orthodox Church on a federal level (similar laws have been passed in states, but nothing at the federal level before). The church has stopped pride marches from happening for the past decade as well as local authorities, such as St Petersburg, which have banned pride marches under similar legislation.

Secondly, it is another layer in Putin's autocratic rule. State lines are pushed and dissent is punished ruthlessly. This is a regression not only in terms of LGBT rights, but more widely as a return to Stalinistic bureaucratic rule.

Thirdly, this only the 'moderate' part of what Putin and his allies want in Russia. MP Alexandre Mikhailov has called for gay and lesbian people to be flogged in public squares. Putin has also banned the adoption of children by gay and lesbian couples in countries which allow same-sex marriage, but claims there is no discrimination of LGBT people in Russia.


What is to be done?

A number of proposals of action have been brought to the table, most notably Stephen Fry's call for a boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Sotchi, Russia next year. Others have suggested Olympians carrying rainbow flags at the opening ceremony (which would result in disqualification), an illegal Olympic Pride march in Sotchi and the IOC banning Russia from their own Olympics. David Cameron has made it clear that though he opposes the new laws, he doesn't agree with a boycott.

I personally don't know what should be done. I'm inclined to agree with Cyd Zeigler that banning Russia from the Winter Games would hit the Kremlin where it hurts, and I believe that it is plausible. I also think that taking the Olympics away from Sotchi would do this too. There are plenty of other venues which would welcome the Olympics with open arms.

Whatever is done, it needs to be drastic. Homophobic attacks are increasing, such the brutal murder of Vladislav Tornovo in May (Trigger warning for graphic description of violence and rape - link).

Whatever the consensus, we must act now before the situation becomes irreparable.