Im resigning from the NUS.

 I am leaving the NUS national disabled students committee. I don't want to go quietly and I want to highlight how inaccessible and disabling my experiences have been with attempting to engage with the campaign. This hasn't been a one off, I am the second person to leave the national disabled students campaign committee because of accessibility issues. When such a big organization as the NUS can not get such basic things right for themselves I get worried for our disabled students who they represent. As always, disabled students are at the heart of everything I do and I will continue to fight for equality for all disabled students. We are entitled to an education. Here is my resigination letter. And to keep it positive, here is my video explaining my role as my unions local disabled students representative. Part time with a full time mission :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-u7NjhB4MI&feature=youtu.be make some noise, I dont want to go quietly.

I remember the national disabled students conference with a great deal of delight. It was the first time I felt properly disabled and properly enabled at the same time. It was a liberating experience, and my recent election to my local unions disabled student rep position made me consider being a part of the national committee.

I remember the speeches from the current committee. If you had the passion and drive to do it, then the small matter of being disabled wasn’t an issue, it was something to be overcome, not a barrier to participation. So I signed up, eager to instigate change and make a difference.

Then there was the fiasco with training being inaccessible which resulted in me not being able to attend and Robyn resigning. I hoped it was a one off and carried on.

When it came to the first meeting I found there were similar access issues that I had to battle with in order for me to get there. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear to just be a one off, but seemed inherent within the organisation.

When I attended my first training meeting I didn’t feel enabled, empowered and activated. I felt overwhelmed, disabled and pretty negative. I didn’t know if this was beyond me, and then the feelings associated with failing came about which just made it worse. I wasn’t sure if it was me or it was genuinely beyond my limitations. I spent Friday and Saturday completely exhausted and unable to function.

What I guess I am saying is that although it might seem ironic, my experience of the national disabled students committee is that it is a very disablist position. In order to meet the demands of the job, students have to have the ability to manage their impairment themselves, and be confident of themselves in their environment. I am not sure what reasonable adjustments and access needs I have, and as these change with every day, and different events it is difficult to pin down exactly what it is that is a barrier that needs to be overcome. I would need to sit and plan every detail in great length to know this, and with only being given 2 weeks’ notice of a meeting this is impossible.

I have spent the weekend not sure what to do, my future with the committee in question. I didn’t feel supported by the organisation to be enabled to attend, and I didn’t find the meeting itself particularly accessible, for me, a physical meeting is not particularly accessible for me in the first place and with no prior notice of the events I could not have forseen what barriers would crop up. For example I can’t read out loud, and I need advance copies of any reading materials as my reading speed is slow, and I like to be prepared. It might seem natural to mention these things, but for me I have so many access needs it would be impossible to write them all down just in case one might be relevant.

And then, this morning, I received a letter from the government. I have been placed in the support group of ESA for a year. It has kind of hit me really hard after the initial excitement of getting the benefit that I am really not well. I leave university in a years time, and I really want to spend this year concentrating on this brave new experience of not being at university, and out in the real world. I need to focus on me, the things I wrote about in the ESA50 form were real, and big things that I need to address in my life. I need to focus on becoming better, doing my degree and work out what I am going to do next. Its only recently that life has become harder for me as I have developed a new impairment that I need to focus on working out whats going on there etc.

I hope you understand that I don’t want to have to do this. However, when I am struggling as an impaired person it is difficult to have a disabled persons identity going alongside. I want to do the best job I can on a local level as my universities disabled students rep. I feel I can make a real difference there, and I think I have worked out that it is where my passions lie. When I am feeling so disabled by my impairment I need to be in enabling environments that reduce my disability so I am only facing barriers caused by my impairment (its a bit complicated I know but I am a complicated person and one who’s studied disability in great detail)

It is with regret that I feel forced to resign from the national disabled students committee, I hope you understand my reasons for this.

Thanks

lucia