Hello everybody. My Name is Melanie Thorley and I am the ask a disabled student advisor for the Scope community. I volunteer for this role at Scope as I am very aware of how
patchy/non-existent advice there is regarding disability and university. Disability
in universities includes physical disabilities; long term health conditions;
the autistic and dyslexia spectrums; and/or mental health difficulties. Personally,
I have had clinical depression and fibromyalgia all of my adult life and I am
now 52!
I work as a disability outreach officer at the University
of Greenwich (UK) and have done so for the past 11 years. Navigating university
can be very daunting, but this can be exaggerated for disabled students.
My
work has two main aspects: *AccessAbility Ambassadors and our STAART
initiative.
*AccessAbility Ambassadors (*AAAs) are current disabled
students at the University of Greenwich who have been through a rigorous (but
gentle) application and interview process. If you do not have at least one disability,
you cannot join our team. *AAAs generally apply to become *AAAs as they
received little, or no sensible advice themselves when they applied for their
university place. This is often as a result of being given the wrong advice –
the main one being told not to tick the disability
or learning difficulty’ box on their UCAS applications. Prospective
students are continually told they will not get an interview and/or place if
they tick the box. This is a blatant lie. In reality, admission officers have no
idea about gender, race, disability, etc. of the applicants. We know that this
situation is still happening as the *AAAs attend our Open Days and hear this
bad practice is still ongoing.
The benefits of being an *AAA are numerous. They have the
support of myself and each other; they can work around their studies; they get
paid; and have opportunities they would never have experienced otherwise, such
as representing STAART at conferences and welcoming disabled students from
Zayed University in Dubai. I would say the biggest advantage is of the *AAAs
who graduate, 85% of them achieve a First Class or 2:1 degree – the highest
possible classifications.
The STAART initiative was launched in summer 2016 but is
the accumulation of ten years experience of supporting disabled students with
their transition into university. As I am an outreach officer, rather than a
recruitment officer, my role is to support disabled students going to any
university. STAART provides workshops; external events; drop-ins; specialist transition
days; and social media. Whilst we have only been in existence for 2.5 years, we
would definitely say the initiative has been a success. Below is a photo taken at our STAART
Transition Day in September 2018.
My personal journey through university has not been easy
and I am very honest with prospective students. I nearly had to leave my BA
Sociology due to my mental health having a bit of a breakdown and I had to
interrupt my doctorate for two years when I was put on morphine patches. Aside
from work, I love travelling, Dr. Martens, our cats, Scrabble and wildlife.
If you are considering university, myself and my team may
be able to support you. Here is our webpage which has much more information.
https://www.gre.ac.uk/for-schools/activities/accessibility-project
If you would like to join us on Facebook, here is the
link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/295392264140831/
If you have a question for Melanie then you can ask her in the Ask a Disabled Student Advisor category here.
