There’s been a lot of talk over the last 6 months or so about the 99%; the Occupy movement which has dominated media discourse as decidedly as ABBA mania dominated dance floors has enshrined this concept, this very simple nugget, “the 99%” in our jargon.

However as much as I’d love to write about the Occupy movement, its presence in society and its relevance to students, I’ve got other things on my mind. Other statistics which are a lot more difficult to grasp, and just as problematic to act on. So I’ll start with a simple one:

22% of people in the UK have a disability.

That’s a lot of people. One way in which to think about it – Warwick has 22,648 students. Statistically that means about 4983 of Warwick students have a disability – that’s more than the entire 2011 student intake.

That’s pretty huge, if you ask me.

But so many of those people will have what can be termed “invisible disabilities”. Statistically, only 1 in 10 disabled people are wheelchair users. Whilst some of the other 9 may also be physically disabled, they may also have chronic fatigue, dyslexia, dwarfism, depression, MS; they may be deaf or blind. Because there is a such a variety of disabilities, I really want to learn more about disabled students’ experiences and how they may have been hindered by prejudice or a lack of accessibility. I want to learn how we can make life at Warwick SU better for our disabled students.

In a society where disabled people are so often lumped in with media rhetoric around “benefit scroungers”, where an MP calls disabled people “unwashed” and doesn’t apologise or acknowledge his nasty idiocy, when disabled people are genuinely fearing for their lives as a result of the government cuts, it’s all the more important for disabled students to get as much support as they can whilst they can. Education can really empower people and so can the Students’ Union, which is why this term I’m focusing on doing a few things geared towards improving the lives of disabled students:

1)    Working with Attitude is Everything to make our buildings and our events even more accessible. The SU has signed up to their accessibility charter at Bronze level – I’m currently finalising an action plan which will look at everything from how to make our accessible toilets the best they can be, to ensuring that disabled students who want to go to the Copper Rooms are catered for appropriately.

2)    In weeks 9 and 10 I will be asking disabled students to participate in focus groups and give me feedback about their student experience, and what we can do to improve it.

3)    Making mental health a priority. Mental health is relevant to everyone – but students who are already vulnerable are even more susceptible to depression and anxiety. In week 7 the mental health awareness week and the day run in conjunction with the university and the psychology society will kickstart this awareness raising and hopefully ensure that students become more knowlegeable about mental health and the support available to them.

4)    Similarly, having finally finished reading the NUS’ Disabled Students’ Campaign’s excellent report on hate crime against Disabled Students, I will be aiming to implement some of the recommendations from that – first of which will be setting up a support network for disabled students. It’s terrifying that nationally 25% of physically impaired students have experienced a hate crime – any student at Warwick who has should remember that you can report it to me by emailing me (welfare@warwick.ac.uk)

5)    Working with student support services at the university to encourage lecturers etc. to have a greater awareness of disabled students’ needs. I’d love to see a very short briefing on accessible learning sent to all departments, explaining the importance of recording lectures and putting slides online (it’s not just so students can have a lie-in! Students with learning disabilities can find this invaluable as it enables them to go through the information at their own pace).

I hope everyone who reads this blog will educate themselves about the social model of disability, the issues facing disabled people, and think about how they can contribute. I’d advise anyone who doesn’t know where to start to begin by checking out , and the fantastic Liberate Yourself website, which give a far better insight than I ever could. And of course any feedback on the work that I’m doing is always appreciated. It’s a pretty long road to liberation, but thanks to groups like DPAC and others, disabled people are becoming more visible. It’s a good fight. I want to be part of it.