Dear Campus Community,
Today the 51ɫ will light up purple in celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). The theme for IDPD this year is “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world.”
The ALLiance partnership group
With this theme in mind, Disability Support Services staff and students are delighted to launch a new student and staff partnership group - The ALLiance. This group was formed as a partnership between students and Disability Support Services staff at UL. The group will focus on informing developments and supports within Disability Services. The group will also be active in raising awareness regarding the experiences of students with disabilities on the campus.
Over the coming months, the group will launch two key initiatives:
- An online seminar series featuring invited speakers discussing advocacy, disability-related topics and providing resources and information to the wider community. Speakers will range from YouTubers to occupational therapists and much more.
- We will also launch a Twitter initiative, “Friday Facts”. Each Friday throughout the second semester, a student will provide information on disability-related issues they feel the campus community should know about.
The group aims to build collaborations with students and staff across UL. We hope this will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the experiences of students with disabilities.
You can follow Disability Services Twitter account to find out more information about our seminar series and get your Friday Facts. This information will also be updated on the Human Rights EDI Website
Staff Disability Supports
UL is committed to providing equality of opportunity to people with disabilities in all aspects of employment. As part of this commitment, UL aims to ensure that people with disabilities have full access to employment, training, promotion and career development within the University. We would like to invite members of staff interested in the area of disability to join a Staff Ability Group. One of the key actions for this group is the development of a Staff Disability/Ability Policy which the Human Resources Division are leading on. If interested, please email edi@ul.ie Information on supports for staff with a disability are available on the Human Rights-EDI Website.
Irish Times Article
Finally, in early January The Irish Times College Choice Supplement will feature UL student Charlie Mullowney, one of our group coordinators, speaking about the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) and her experiences of college life.
