Nominations: Nominations closed
Voting: Voting closed
Election
Read about what the Disabled Students' Officer is responsible for.
In order to vote for this position you must self-define as a student from with a disability.
Category
Candidates
Kundai Mbelengwa
What will you bring to this role (e.g. experience, skills or qualities)?
I have been able to develop my leadership and event planning skills through my time as the president of the MEDLIFE society and events officer for the mental health society and I believe these experiences would be useful for this role. I am a team-oriented individual who thrives when working with others and I am a quick learner who is willing to achieve any tasks given to me. This year, I have been a part of three different society committees, on top of my demanding degree program and this has helped me to develop crucial time management skills that I know would be essential for this role.
What do you hope to achieve in the role if you are elected?
I hope to help create a more disability friendly atmosphere on campus. In first year I attended a focus group where students expressed frustration at not being made aware of the disability resources available at UCL. An example of this is the disability study room on the main campus, or having accommodation and rent adjustments for disabled students beyond first year, and I only found this out through extensive research. Information like this would be immensely useful and I would like to implement a system of sending disabled students information about all the resources available to them.
Please summarise why students should vote for you.
I have experienced how difficult it can be living with a disability whilst attending university, especially an ‘ invisible disability ‘ . Looking at me, no one would imagine that I have a visual impairment because I have tried so often to hide it as I hate having to explain myself to people when they find out, but I want students with disabilities to feel seen, heard and safe on campus whilst they undergo their degrees and that’s why students should vote for me.
Read more
Philip Greger and Suzanna Chen
What will you bring to this role (e.g. experience, skills or qualities)?
As your disabled students' officers this past year, we've revitalised the network. Coming into this role, we knew we had a tough road ahead, since the network had been all but abandoned the previous year. We knew we'd have to start things back up again from scratch, and we believe we've done an excellent job. In the past year, we've:
- Held regular events, including collaborations with other networks and societies.
- Greatly expanded our social media presence & outreach.
- Created a WhatsApp community to connect disabled students at UCL, which we hope to bring even more students into.
What do you hope to achieve in the role if you are elected?
This year, our focus has been on rebuilding the community aspect of the network. Now, we'd like to focus on rebuilding the policy aspect of the network. We will work to:
- Create a Disabled Student's Fund, similar to the one that exists for trans students.
- Work with the union as planning begins for a new student's union building, to make sure it's as accessible as possible.
- Support the union's effort to replace the self-certification system for ECs with a 'free pass' system that would make it easier for disabled students, and all students, to get through difficult times.
Please summarise why students should vote for you.
We've been working hard this year to do everything we can for disabled students, and now that we have a year of experience under our belt, we believe that we can do even more if re-elected. We know how hard it can be to get through university with a disability, and we're going to fight for the needs of every disabled student here at UCL.
Read more