When this campus was still The Scottish College of
Textiles, we had a support group for students with
disabilities, which was a mixed group, though the majority
were dyslexic. The event that kicked it off was a meeting
with a senior teacher at a local high school who is
dyslexic but was not diagnosed until his children were
assessed. He talked about his experiences and how he dealt
with the problems he had encountered during his studies,
and how he approaches things now. They all found this
really encouraging and it gave some of them a tremendous
boost.
The students set up as an association and elected office
bearers who worked with the staff in developing our
disability statement and on awareness raising events, such
as a video-conferenced discussion on disability
legislation, and video-conferenced demonstration of Brain
Gym (Educational Kinesiology). They met fairly regularly
and produced a newsletter which was distributed within the
campus to staff and students. Working on this did great
things for their confidence and gave them a real sense of
purpose. One of the founder members went on to become the
University's first technical adviser for students with
special needs and has become a senior figure in local
politics at a very early age.
Several members attended conferences throughout the
country, including the Skill/NUS ones, and there were a
couple of meetings and other contacts with similar groups
in other parts of Scotland.
Sadly the group lapsed a couple of years ago. Some of the
stalwarts graduated and we had a different cohort who
seemed less inclined to become actively involved. The fact
that many of them now have other outside work commitments
has had an effect. The official support structure is also
significantly improved because of the DDA related
developments so they possibly feel less need for peer
support. HOwever, if the opportunity arose, I would be
keen to re-establish the group, as I feel that it lessened
the sense of isolation for a number of students and
improved their overall perspective of disability issues.
They became our best advocates. The importance of committed
individuals (students and staff) and reasonable financial
support to enable events to take place, or for attendance
at conferences, is vital.
Good luck
--
Eleanor Drummond
Scottish Borders Campus
Heriot-Watt University
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