About my position
The SRC Disability Officer represents disabled students' needs and experiences across university life. I work with groups like the SRC, Wellbeing Committee, Equal Opportunities Committee and Student Services to build an understanding of disability in the student community, raise awareness of the support available for disabled students, and to tackle issues disabled students experience.
As part of my role, I also chair the Disabled Students' Network: a subcommittee of the Equal Opportunities Committee which is focused on representing disabled students. The DSN also runs events and awareness campaigns and will be running the first Disability Pride Week in week two of first semester this year.
How my position affects you
I work on issues like accessibility, student support, and representation. For example, this year myself and the DSN are working on providing training resources to societies and student groups focused on improving the accessibility of their events, so that disabled students can feel more included in the St Andrews student community.
I have also worked with Student Services to highlight the issues that disabled students have experienced with online learning, worked with Education Committee to improve the representation of disabled students across academic departments, and run awareness campaigns to raise awareness of the many different types of support available for disabled students.
Previous Disability Officers have worked on projects like the Students' Association's Equal Opportunities Policy and Zero Tolerance Policy – providing a complaints process for discrimination and harassment in the union – and the accessibility of campus.
About me
I'm a fourth year Mathematics student from Livingston, just outside Edinburgh. During high school, I was diagnosed with a Functional Neurological Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. As part of this, I experience a multitude of symptoms that impact everything from my mobility to my energy levels.
Living and studying with my disability, I have experienced a wide-range of issues including the inaccessibility of buildings and teaching, harassment, and a poor understanding of the support available to me. Early in my degree, I became interested in disability activism and began running events for disabled students and working to make the societies I was involved in more accessible. I found myself really enjoying this work and wanted to see bigger changes across the Union and the University, so I chose to run for Disability Officer at the end of my third year.
Outside of my studies and SRC position, I am also a keen competitive debater with the Union Debating Society. I enjoy speaking in public debates and have been on the committee since my second year. A fun fact about me is that, in my third year, I re-adopted my academic dad when he came back to do his masters!
Groups I work with
I lead the Disabled Students' Network (DSN). I sit on the Wellbeing and Equal Opportunities subcommittees. I also sit on the Museums Student Advisory Panel.
My manifesto pledges
Read my full manifesto here, and follow my Facebook page for updates.
See my manifesto tracker to check my progress.
Find more information on the support available for disabled students in St Andrews in the online guide written by disabled students. If you're a disabled student at St Andrews, you can join our Facebook group.
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