Welcome to our NADP Virtual Conference 2020



0184150National Association of Disability PractitionersVirtual Conference 2020: Supporting Disabled Students – Supporting Ourselves8096251079500Conference Feed: #NADPAC202092392521336000Facebook Page: @NADPUKWeekly Virtual Events June 24th – August 26th 2020Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Welcome to our NADP Virtual Conference 2020 PAGEREF _Toc43201703 \h 4New to Zoom? PAGEREF _Toc43201704 \h 6Session 1: Wednesday 24th June PAGEREF _Toc43201705 \h 7Welcome and Introduction: Brian Lutchmiah, Chair of NADP PAGEREF _Toc43201706 \h 7Message from our president: Jess Thom – Tourettes’ Hero PAGEREF _Toc43201707 \h 7From medicalisation to celebratory: an intersectional approach to SpLD support Atif Choudhury and Adam Hyland, Diversity & Ability PAGEREF _Toc43201708 \h 7Session 2: Wednesday 1st July PAGEREF _Toc43201709 \h 8Creating a digital pathway to support and success for international students Amy Low and Adam Tweed, AbilityNet & Mike Chung UCL PAGEREF _Toc43201710 \h 8Session 3: Wednesday 8th July PAGEREF _Toc43201711 \h 9The Disabled Students’ Commission Professor Geoff Layer PAGEREF _Toc43201712 \h 9Inclusive Mobility – Making study abroad programmes more inclusive for students with disabilities Valerie van Hees & Dominique Montagnese, SIHO – LINK partner PAGEREF _Toc43201713 \h 9Session 4: Wednesday 15th July PAGEREF _Toc43201714 \h 11A system approach to improving students’ mental health – an NHS and universities partnership David Rose, NHS, and Alice Speller, Goldsmiths University PAGEREF _Toc43201715 \h 11Accessing Fulfilling Careers: Maximising the chances of your students transitioning into employment. Helen Cooke and Emma Knox, MyPlus PAGEREF _Toc43201716 \h 11Session 5: Wednesday 22nd July PAGEREF _Toc43201717 \h 13How a social model approach supports innovation and collaboration Jenny Alsop, Carys Kennedy & Caroline Huntley, University of the Arts, London PAGEREF _Toc43201718 \h 13Early programme for autistic students PAGEREF _Toc43201719 \h 13Kathryn Fisher & Ros Holmes, University of Warwick PAGEREF _Toc43201720 \h 13Joined up thinking and collaborative working to increase effectiveness and create a mutually supportive environment. Professor Nicola Martin, London South Bank University PAGEREF _Toc43201721 \h 13Session 6: Wednesday 29th July PAGEREF _Toc43201722 \h 17The new NADP Accreditation Scheme Paddy Turner PAGEREF _Toc43201723 \h 17Audio feedback and the inclusive curriculum Karl Nightingale, Vikki Anderson & Susan Onens, University of Birmingham PAGEREF _Toc43201724 \h 17Session 7: Wednesday 5th August PAGEREF _Toc43201725 \h 18TBC PAGEREF _Toc43201726 \h 18Enabling student choice and voice Patrick McGrath, Educational Technology Strategist, Texthelp PAGEREF _Toc43201727 \h 18Session 8: Wednesday 12th August PAGEREF _Toc43201728 \h 19TBC PAGEREF _Toc43201729 \h 19Exploring and strengthening the role of disability officers in a changing landscape Dara Ryder & Lorraine Gallagher, AHEAD Ireland, LINK Partner PAGEREF _Toc43201730 \h 19Session 9: Wednesday 19th August PAGEREF _Toc43201731 \h 20TBC PAGEREF _Toc43201732 \h 20Webinar: 2-3pm PAGEREF _Toc43201733 \h 20‘Teamwork makes the dream work’- Academics and disability teams working collaboratively. Idalina Rodrigues & Rachel Davies, De Montfort University PAGEREF _Toc43201734 \h 20Session 10: Wednesday 26th August PAGEREF _Toc43201735 \h 21Concluding Remarks Brian Lutchmiah, NADP Chair PAGEREF _Toc43201736 \h 21NADP Awards – Martin Smith and the NADP Awards Panel PAGEREF _Toc43201737 \h 21Networking event(note change of time) PAGEREF _Toc43201738 \h 21Our Presenters PAGEREF _Toc43201739 \h 22Welcome to our NADP Virtual Conference 2020-533408699500 A warm welcome to our 21st Annual Conference.?This is certainly a different format this year, and given the national context at present, we aim to ensure that the format offered ensures you are able to plan and access conference sessions over a 10 week timeframe, each Wednesday! We never thought we would be in this position back in January when we opened bookings for Conference though here we are, and in adjusting swiftly, we have managed to retain a fantastic line up of speakers for you. Our sincere gratitude goes to our speakers, who have agreed to convert their presentations to an online format over the last few weeks. ???At the time, we did not know how much we were going to need to support each other in the move to working from home at the same time as educating our families whilst coping with the national restrictions in place. NADP also developed some resources to help, and these are still available on our Covid-19 resources hub for you to access freely.We started planning this conference with the joint aims of looking at best practice in supporting disabled students, with additional focus on how we support ourselves in the process ensuring a consistent quality of support to others. Your wellbeing is important to us.This conference intends to provide you with opportunity to access quality speakers in your own time. We are aiming to do this by providing videos and webinars for you each week from Wednesday 24 June 2020 through to Wednesday 26 August 2020. We trust that you will be able to join us in the webinars, noting it will also be possible for you to watch them later in video format as sessions will be recorded.?Given the current challenges across the sector, our aim for the conference is to be free to all, and there will be no subsequent charge to attend any of the events. The only cost associated is with your time, and I trust that it will be time well spent.As we are aiming to deliver the conference as cost neutrally as possible, we will be managing accessibility internally with captioned videos and webinars. In doing so, please bear with us and do let us know if you have any particular problems, which we will try to solve as soon as we can. In providing a virtual conference in this way, we too are learning fast and your feedback as a valued membership is highly welcomed in the process, as always.?Lastly, at the conference end in Week 10, we will be scheduling an opportunity to collectively raise a glass of wine, a gin and tonic, tea or coffee at a closing networking event. Do please join our toast together at this event. A toast to you, a toast to NADP and a toast to our work with disabled students. Do however note, you will need to provide your own drink for the occasion!Have a fabulous conference experience all and join us in our festivities in a landmark 21st Anniversary year for the National Association of Disability Practitioners. One to remember!Best wishes,Brian Lutchmiah, Chair of NADPNew to Zoom?Zoom is a popular webinar application used worldwide, compatible with Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, and Linux. a computer, tablet, or smartphone with speaker or headphones.You will receive an email from the NADP Office. The notification will include a link to join the webinar via computer. This is personal to you and should not be shared. It will also include the 9-digit (usually) Meeting ID.Five minutes before the start time of your meeting, click on the link in your invitation to join via computer.After you click the link, you will be taken to the Zoom website. If you don’t already have Zoom on your system, you will be asked to download the Zoom application. There will be a link on the screen allowing you to do this, depending on what sort of device you are connecting from.You may also join a meeting without clicking on the invitation link by going to join.zoom.us on any browser and entering the Meeting ID provided by the NADP Office.Once the application has downloaded, you can click the “Join” link again to start the webinar. You have an opportunity to test your audio at this point by clicking on ‘Test Computer Audio’. Once you are satisfied that your audio works, click on ‘Join audio by computer’. When you join the webinar, your camera and microphone will be switched off automatically. You will not be able to ‘unmute’ yourself.For the webinars you can use the ‘Q&A’ feature to ask a question, which will be sent to the panel to read out. If we do not have the time to ask your question during the session, please be assured that all questions raised will be recorded and we will follow up post-event.All the live events will be recorded and made available on the NADP website as soon as possible after the webinar.Using the icons in the lower left corner of the Zoom screen, you can: View Participant list – opens a pop-out screenChange your screen name that is seen in the participant list and video windowA list of keyboard controls can be found here: Session 1: Wednesday 24th JuneVideoWelcome and Introduction: Brian Lutchmiah, Chair of NADPVideoMessage from our president: Jess Thom – Tourettes’ HeroWebinar: 2-3pmFrom medicalisation to celebratory: an intersectional approach to SpLD supportAtif Choudhury and Adam Hyland, Diversity & AbilityYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: student’s wellbeing is key to their academic success. Whilst a diagnostic assessment enables the student to access support, it can often have a negative damaging impact on their wellbeing and self-esteem. The presentation will discuss how reliance on psychometrics alone can have a negative impact on students and how a holistic, joined-up approach to celebrating diversity through goal setting, study skills and assistive technology, can turn the table!?In particular, the presentation will focus on what a diagnostic assessment looks at but more importantly, what impacts it does not consider. The presentation will then move to look at how this can impact a student's wellbeing before exploring how a holistic celebratory approach across services can turn the table to see diversity as an asset!??Our celebratory approach will be demonstrated through our goal-setting method which enables the student’s voice to be listened to and acted upon to create a personalised learning dynamic. This type of study environment is important because it provides students with a strong sense of ownership - over not only their support and technology - but of the direction of their learning and ultimately their academic success.?The presentation will hear from a diagnostic assessor, a D&A student and study skills tutor about their first-hand experiences of an integrated approach to learning. Our integrated approach demonstrates our inclusive person-centred approach. By combining an understanding of diagnostic assessments, AT and study skills in our pedagogy we embed an intersectionality of knowledge, AT and study support. This dynamic and personalised platform to learning enables learners to build self-confidence over their study which in-turn can improve wellbeing and retention without an overreliance on the medical model alone.Session 2: Wednesday 1st JulyVideoWebinar: 2-3pmCreating a digital pathway to support and success for international studentsAmy Low and Adam Tweed, AbilityNet & Mike Chung UCLYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: : Creating a digital pathway to support and success for international studentsUCL and AbilityNet will talk about how institutions can reach out to their prospective and incoming international students and provide a digital welcome pathway to ensure they get the support they need to be successful at university. They will talk through a case study discussing how they will be using a combination of welcome emails, needs identification tools and online needs assessments to ensure that international students are:Aware of the challenges they might face as they come to study overseasConfident that their needs have been anticipated and they will be supported Equipped with the tools and training to hit the ground runningOn the staff side taking this approach can reduce the peaks of student demand experienced by most institutions in the first semester and also give them an early indication on areas where further resource and investment may be required to ensure all student support needs are accommodated. Session 3: Wednesday 8th JulyVideoThe Disabled Students’ CommissionProfessor Geoff LayerWebinar: 2-3pmInclusive Mobility – Making study abroad programmes more inclusive for students with disabilities Valerie van Hees & Dominique Montagnese, SIHO – LINK partnerYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: , Abstract: Inclusive Mobility – Making study abroad programmes more inclusive for students with disabilities The transition from high school into higher education constitutes a precarious life stage for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Compared to other disability groups, students with ASD have reduced graduation rates and face specific difficulties with managing the competing social and academic demands, achieving appropriate time management and self- advocacy skills, and difficulties with regulating emotions and sensory issues. In addition to these challenges, many young adults with ASD lose the entitlement to formal supports services after they leave secondary education school. In collaboration with the Academic Collaborative Autism, the Support Centre Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO, Belgium) conduct research on the support needs of students with ASD and developed Roadmap (myroadmap.eu) an on demand and interactive personalized online support system in which students with autism can easily access reminders, notes and customizable guidelines with coping strategies on topics related to life and learning as a student in higher education. A handy logbook in which energy and stress levels, and daily experiences can easily be recorded, and a well-arranged planning agenda, fully support students to organise and monitor their learning and student activities. Roadmap can be used individually or in combination with supervision. Students can map their own support team and can easily contact their student counselor when and where it’s needed. The personalisability of the tool ensures that the content offered can be fully tailored to the unique needs of each student. Roadmap is free available for all students with ASD studying at Flemish Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences. Roadmap and research results on the support needs of students with ASD and staff will be shared during a presentation to the workshop audience. Subsequently, the speakers will facilitate an interactive session where participants will be able to reflect in small groups on Roadmap, the research results and their own practices and challenges regarding the support of students with ASD. The inputs of the groups will then be shortly presented by the speakers and discussed with the whole audience. Tips and tricks on how to support students with ASD in a qualitative way will be shared.Session 4: Wednesday 15th JulyVideoA system approach to improving students’ mental health – an NHS and universities partnershipDavid Rose, NHS, and Alice Speller, Goldsmiths UniversityWebinar: 2-3pmAccessing Fulfilling Careers: Maximising the chances of your students transitioning into employment.Helen Cooke and Emma Knox, MyPlusYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: 1: Accessing Fulfilling Careers: Maximising the chances of your students transitioning into employmentKey reasons that students go to university are that they either wish to pursue a particular career or to help them to get a better job than they would have done if they hadn’t gone. The same is true for disabled students yet it remains considerably harder for them to find employment upon graduating than for their non-disabled counterparts. Research finds that disabled graduates at all qualification levels are less likely to have obtained full-time employment than non-disabled graduates* Not only has the Office for Students set out its approach to improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups to ‘’access, succeed and progress’’ from HE, the latest AGCAS research also calls for more action to ‘’remove barriers preventing disabled graduates from accessing and thriving in fulfilling careers.’’Therefore, when talking about ‘positive outcomes for everyone – students and staff’ we have to talk about employment. For the student this is about maximising their chances of transitioning into full time employment and for institutions employability rates are just one of the key measures of success.The reasons that disabled students find it harder to gain internships, placements and employment are many and varied including individuals lacking the confidence to apply to employers and disabled students not immersing themselves in student life and therefore lacking the employability skills that employers demand.To develop employability skills, individuals need to immerse themselves in all aspects of university life and take positions of responsibility; develop leadership skills, show initiative, etc. This will involve students joining clubs and societies, volunteering, gaining work experience and developing the skills required to successfully navigate recruitment processes. However, if you lack confidence, combined with the added challenge of managing your disability, getting involved can seem impossible. To address this issue, stakeholders from across the institution must all understand the specific challenges facing disabled students as they transition from education to employment, and be in a position to support them with accurate information, expert resources and tailored advice; this includes student support staff, careers advisers and employability teams, and academic staff with a wider employability remit.During this keynote, delegates will: Understand the student voice:Why disabled students are not fully immersing themselves in university life and the impact on transitioning into employmentUnderstand how best to manage student expectations:By developing your own knowledge of the main concerns that disabled students have when applying for a jobChallenge their assumptions of what is possible for disabled studentsUnderstand how you can change practice*AGCAS: What happens Next? – a report on the first destinations of disabled graduatesSession 5: Wednesday 22nd JulyVideo 1How a social model approach supports innovation and collaborationJenny Alsop, Carys Kennedy & Caroline Huntley, University of the Arts, LondonVideo 2Early arrival programme for autistic studentsKathryn Fisher & Ros Holmes, University of WarwickWebinar: 2-3pmJoined up thinking and collaborative working to increase effectiveness and create a mutually supportive environment.Professor Nicola Martin, London South Bank UniversityYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: Video 1: How a social model approach supports innovation and collaborationUniversity of the Arts London reimagined its approach to achieving inclusion for disabled students in 2013. It agreed to use a social model approach as a tool to improve the disabled student experience. The University set up a new Disability Service and resourced it to deliver an ambitious, ongoing programme of Disability Equality Training for student-facing staff. Disabled students are now more satisfied. They attain better than non-disabled students. The institutional culture has changed – from compliance to best practice.We want to share our experiences of using the social model to meet students’ needs more effectively. We will particularly focus on how we use it to collaborate and innovate with colleagues across the university. We will provide specific examples, including how we use a social model approach to:influence university decision-making set our team values and culturedeliver disability advice and specialist study skills tuitionensure students’ access needs are met by course teamscollaborate with key partners e.g. Estates, Health and Safety, Accommodationinnovate in embedding inclusive practices e.g. assistive technology, librariesdevelop, promote and deliver trainingdevelop and publish resources for staff and students (including showing our video for students) We regularly reflect on our approach and try to improve it. We also want to share our reflections on the current challenges we face and our future plans, including how we can:manage tensions between our approach and requests for impairment-specific informationimprove the reach and impact of our traininginfluence inclusive teaching and assessment practices. We will use a wide range of examples that we hope will provide useful inspiration and takeaways for all delegates, irrespective of the context in which they work. Abstract Video 2: Early Arrival Programme for Autistic StudentsWarwick University has run an early arrivals programme for autistic students since 2013. This has developed and expanded over time to reflect both student need and university changes such as the introduction of a Welcome Week in 2018. Warwick did not have a welcome/fresher’s week before 2018 which posed particular challenges for autistic students. The early arrivals programme has been developed and run by the disability services team and involves the head of service, advisers and autism mentors. Feedback has been sought from students who participated and the programme changed to reflect this. The programme aims to provide a reassuring, supportive environment to aid transition into university life. There are a mixture of activities from the very practical such as laundry, food shopping and bus trips, to campus tours, library sessions and encouraging participation in societies and sports. Support from colleagues across the university such as the residential life team, library inductions, sports centre introductions, student union, accommodation team and academic departments has been vital in providing a comprehensive programme to cover different aspects of student life. Evidence of outcomes of students who have participated in previous early arrival programmes shows better engagement with support available e.g. mentoring and also smoother communication with academic departments.Challenges have been in resourcing this programme as numbers have grown from 6 students in the first year to 34 in 2019. We are lucky at Warwick to have a large amount of on campus accommodation but accommodation availability before the start of the academic year is tricky because of the university’s lucrative conference business. Running a successful transition programme poses a number of challenges: When to run it – during vacation or just before the start of term? Do you involve parents at any stage and how do you manage this in a way that empowers students? Which students to include – any disabled student or only certain groups? For those not invited to the early arrivals programme, what other transition help can be offered to disabled students? How do you determine invites for applicants based on UCAS information?What about those who can’t attend? Do you run the programme separately from any university wide welcome week activities, or alongside?What are the costs e.g. residential accommodation – do you charge for extra nights? What about rooms, catering, staff time? Who pays for the programme? What information do you provide before, during and after the programme and in what formats? How do you evaluate such a programme? What follow up is desirable after the programme? This session demonstrates how Warwick has tackled these challenges over the last few years and what we plan for future programmes, including what we are planning for September 2020 during the Covid-2019 pandemic. Abstract Webinar: Joined up thinking and collaborative working to increase effectiveness and create a mutually supportive environmentThe presentation is built on research informed practice arising from two projects:A SRHE funded project which considered how HEI's could approach the post Layer landscape requiring embedding of universal design for learning. A key finding related to the requirement for various services to work together and to communicate the big picture of support available to students.An approach by Leadley-Meade and Goodwin to offering pre entry support to students which included providing them with information about how to access a wide range of professional services in order to increase their chances of academic success. Working together between professional services is possibly easier than creating equitable and productive working relationships between professional services staff and academics. This presentation considers how to make all these things work in ways which?enable staff to support each other and offer students excellent joined up easy to access servicesSession 6: Wednesday 29th JulyVideoThe new NADP Accreditation SchemePaddy TurnerWebinar: 2-3pmAudio feedback and the inclusive curriculumKarl Nightingale, Vikki Anderson & Susan Onens, University of BirminghamYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: 1: The ability for assessors to give audio feedback on electronically submitted assignments is now a straightforward process at most institutions, and is increasing in use as many students value this to written feedback. This appears to reflect the increased detail and explanation that many assessors give when giving spoken feedback. Here we discuss an ongoing mixed methods study to evaluate audio feedback in three undergraduate programmes (e.g. Biomedical Science, Pharmacy, Law), with a focus on the impact it has on overall student satisfaction, but also in terms of whether it can contribute to inclusion. In this presentation we focus in on (i) students disclosing SpLDs and /or disabilities, (ii) international students and also (iii) examine the influence of students’ ethnicity, to evaluate students perceptions on whether audio feedback can support their learning. Our findings support suggestions that audio feedback is welcomed by the majority of students and is associated with marked increases in student satisfaction. However, it is not appropriate for all students, suggesting that the context, or the way it is used is also important to supporting the diverse learners in many UG cohorts. These findings aim to inform academic practice for delegates to refer to and creates an evidence base for policy decision making.Session 7: Wednesday 5th AugustVideoTBC Webinar: 2-3pmEnabling student choice and voicePatrick McGrath, Educational Technology Strategist, TexthelpYou will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: : Enabling student choice and voiceIn this session, we’ll explore the importance and value of providing students with choice and voice in their learning. We’ll help map the journey to provide students with the flexibility and tools to learn what, when and how it matches their needs, interests and skills. We’ll be identifying and explaining core frameworks that teachers and schools can adopt to progress current practice to a more student led approach. Looking at current good practice and the evidence of positive learning outcomes, we’ll then use the lens of technology to ‘get practical’ and identify a range of core technology tools and methodologies that can help start the journey to making learning personal for every single student within our diverse classrooms - ultimately providing better outcomes for all. This session is underpinned by research, good practice and sound pedagogy whilst staying practical across all subjects and ages.Key Outcomes:Understand the importance and impact of student choice and voice to learning outcomes.Gain knowledge and understanding of core frameworks that can be adopted to increase choice and voice.Gain insight to allow educators to make more informed decisions on which technology to choose and the critical questions needed to do so.Experience a wide range of technology tools that can be integrated into learning to offer truly personalised learning.Understand how choice and voice fits within the UDL framework and offers enhanced accessibility for a diverse range of learners.Understand practical ‘next steps’ to increase choice and voice.Session 8: Wednesday 12th AugustVideoTBC Webinar: 2-3pmExploring and strengthening the role of disability officers in a changing landscapeDara Ryder & Lorraine Gallagher, AHEAD Ireland, LINK PartnerYou will be able to download each video and book the webinars from our website: 1: Exploring and strengthening the role of disability officers in a changing landscapeWhile the number of disabled students accessing third level education continues to rise each year this success comes with a word of caution. So far the inclusion of students with disabilities has been built on a model of add-on supports provided to students through the Fund for Students with Disabilities in Ireland and the Disabled Student Allowance in the UK, there have in recent years been radical cuts in funding and it is clear that this model is no longer sustainable and in need of an overhaul.The rise in the cost of adding-on individualised, specialised supports is putting increased pressure on the system but in recent years there has been a general shift in thinking regarding the concept of inclusion of students in college life. In the past, students with disabilities who were provided with specialised supports were expected to assimilate into the general practice of institutions. However, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities advocates a human rights model of inclusion and argues that persons with disabilities deserve the same treatment as anyone else. There has also been a shift in National Policy and the Higher Education Authority emphasises the need to implement a more mainstream approach to inclusion to “enhance the quality of the learning experience and progression outcomes of all students”. Providing a fully inclusive learning environment for all students is complex and creating a culture of engagement and inclusion of all students requires a shift in thinking and a change of behaviour at an institutional level. In this ever-changing higher education environment, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides an effective framework to improve the learning experience of all students within a mainstream teaching environment. But where does that leave disability staff, are you fearing you will become redundant in this new universally designed learning space?Session 9: Wednesday 19th AugustVideoTBCWebinar: 2-3pm‘Teamwork makes the dream work’- Academics and disability teams working collaboratively.Idalina Rodrigues & Rachel Davies, De Montfort UniversityYou will be able to download each video and book the webinars from our website: 1: ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ – Academics and disability teams working collaborativelyA key element of De Montfort University’s UDL approach is the embedding of support from the Student Welfare team within taught programmes. In this workshop we will describe how the Disability Advice & Support team work collaboratively with academic staff from the Speech & Language Therapy course team to support students’ wellbeing, and in particular how we support disabled students to access and succeed on work placements.We will describe our model for collaborative working, including:Identification of individual and cohort support needs;Development & delivery of embedded support workshops;Work with placement teams & employers to provide accessible placementsWe will reflect on the challenges and benefits of working collaboratively, including:How the knowledge of academic colleagues about individual and cohort support needs enables better targeted disability support;What needs to be in place institutionally & at programme level for colleagues to work collaboratively in this way;How a closer understanding of course content and placement requirements supports disability teams to advise on reasonable adjustments;Session 10: Wednesday 26th AugustVideoConcluding RemarksBrian Lutchmiah, NADP ChairNADP Awards – Martin Smith and the NADP Awards PanelWebinar: 3-4pmNetworking event(note change of time)You will be able to download each video and book for the webinars from our website: PresentersHelen Cooke, Director of My Plus Consulting and Founder of the MyPlus Recruiters’ Club and MyPlus Universities’ Club is recognised nationally as a leading expert in disability and graduate recruitment. Helen works with organisations and institutions to provide them with the expertise to be disability confident in their strategy, their processes and their engagement. Clients include: Barclays, EY, Teach First, the University of Liverpool, the University of Bolton and the University of Bath.Helen is also behind MyPlus Students’ Club. An innovative website which provides students with disabilities or long-term health conditions, the advice, support and confidence to find opportunities, approach relevant organisations and go on to realise new possibilities with progressive employers. It also provides a platform for businesses to showcase themselves as disability confident employers.The uniqueness of Helen’s approach comes from her expertise in HR and graduate recruitment combined with her first-hand experience of disability; Helen is a wheelchair user as a result of a childhood spinal injury. She started her career on the M&S graduate management programme before moving to Mars where she spent 10 years, mostly in HR and Resourcing, before setting up her business.Emma Knox is responsible for University Partnerships and Marketing at MyPlus, developing disability confidence on campus and providing resources that enable students with disabilities to realise their career potential. Emma works with HE institutions to develop strategies and embed capability in supporting the 14% of students with disabilities as they progress into work, through training, events, webinars and workshops which provide the knowledge and skills needed to compete and succeed.Emma is an experienced commercial manager with experience in marketing and learning and development gained at Mars UK and M&S where she also started life as a graduate trainee. Stephen Harper is an AccessAbility Adviser (Mental Health) at Ulster University and works directly with disabled students, assessing their individual needs and ensuring reasonable adjustments are put in place within the learning environment.?His specialism has been supporting students with diagnosed mental health conditions over the last 5 years at Ulster and promoting inclusive practice to help to remove disability related barriers. Stephen was Acting Disability Services Manager across Ulster University’s four campuses during 2019 managing the AccessAbility team, including the Needs Assessment Centre and Support Register. Stephen is actively engaged in working collaboratively with colleagues in Student Wellbeing and the Centre for Higher Education Research and Practice (CHERP) to embed both inclusive program and module design, and the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy into the new Integrated Curriculum Design Framework (ICDF) at Ulster, to enhance student experience, belonging, retention and progression. Stephen completed his BSW Social Work degree at Queen’s University Belfast and has worked in Education Welfare, Mental Health and Looked After Children settings. His focus is on the social model of disability in order to enhance inclusive learning environments and societies, helping to break down stigma in relation to disabilities and mental health conditions.?Mark Simpson joined the School of Law at Ulster University as PhD candidate in 2012. Since 2016 he has been a Lecturer in Law and Course Director of LLB programmes at the Magee campus.Mark undertakes interdisciplinary research in social justice, with a focus on social security law, and is a co-convenor of the stream on Social Rights, Citizenship and the Welfare State at the Socio-Legal Studies Association’s annual conference. His recent research on universal credit in Northern Ireland is based on a strongly participatory ethos, with benefit recipients not only sharing their stories with the research team, but taking the lead in identifying key findings and recommendations.In his role as LLB Course Director, Mark has worked closely with academic colleagues and Student Wellbeing to develop more inclusive approaches to assessment. As a module coordinator, he has been involved in other exercises in innovative curriculum design, including the use of more interactive approaches to learning and teaching, non-conventional assessment, including oral tasks and work-based learning, and the development of assessment criteria in partnership with students.Dr Tricia Barlow and Sr Sarah Martell are currently taking time out of their medical training programmes to undertake Leadership Fellow posts with The University of Leeds. They are working on a project with their supervisor, Dr Jane Kirby, aimed at improving inclusion and support provision for disabled medical students and doctors.Sarah is a rehabilitation doctor working in West Yorkshire. She has developed an interest in adult neurodisability and stroke medicine following her graduation from Newcastle University in 2014.Tricia graduated from The University of Sheffield in 2011 and has worked at The University of Birmingham and Hereford County Hospital as a Teaching Fellow prior to South Yorkshire as a paediatrician. Her interest is in neurodisability in children. Sarah and Tricia have a keen interest in medical education and are studying for postgraduate qualifications in Health Professions Education at Hull York Medical School whilst engaging in teaching students at Leeds Medical School.CHESS is a consortium consisting of a small number of professionals with expertise relevant to the field of higher education access for deaf students. We meet throughout the year to discuss issues which might need addressing at a national level, to organise national events, to generate questions and answers for CHESSForum and to influence new policy and practice. CHESS Presenters:Lynne Barnes: Principal Lecturer/Academic Lead for BSL& Deaf Studies at the University of Central LancashireBryan Coleman: Head of Disability and Dyslexia Service at Sheffield UniversityJames Fitzgerald: Professional Lead of Physical and Sensory Support (FHE 16+) at Surrey County CouncilJudith Hutchinson: Managing Director of Total Communication (Reading)Paul Kent: Disability Adviser based at Seacole Building at City South campus of Birmingham City UniversityHelen Young: Deputy Head of Disability Advisory Service/Head of Oxford University Assessment CentreAtif Choudhury is a social entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Diversity and Ability (DnA) and Zaytoun. Having worked as an Assistive Technology trainer for a number of years, DnA was born from Atif’s recognition of the need for a holistic person-centred support service. Applying his own lived experience as a neurodiverse learner, he refined a training style that DnA now shares with its’ learners; a metacognitive strategy focused approach that inspires confidence and independence among learners. Championing inclusivity, DnA believes that everyone should have access to a ‘box of tricks’, made possible using open source software, low cost apps and by networking AT across IT systems for all to use. Accessibility need not be a question of socio-economics or diagnosis, instead, the democratisation of tools breaks down barriers and provides equal opportunities.Adam Hyland is an inspirational and prolific campaigner on dyslexic and disabled students’ rights, bringing a crucial perspective to DnA and the DSA support framework. As co-founder of DnA, Adam’s mission is to share information, technologies and knowledge that celebrates diversity and challenges deficit-based conceptions of disability. Adam self-identifies as disabled, having been born with Cerebal Palsy and the can-do attitude that makes all thing seem possible.After graduating with a first-class honours degree in Internet and Communication Systems, Adam was also awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Award and the DEC (Design, Electronic and Computing) Award. In 2007 Mann was elected as President of the University of Bournemouth Students Union. After which Adam was elected as NUS National Disabled Students Officer a post he held for two full terms 2008-2010. Adam also continued his work representing disabled students as an Independent Director and Board member of DSA DAG, until 2013. Adam brings all this experience to guide DnA’s dynamic disabled-led model that ensures the “Nothing about us without us” mantra rings true in all support and consultancy that DnA provide. His experience in HE and the NUS makes him a powerful driving force behind the DnA Ambassador Scheme and our broader disability campaigning work. Adam is passionate about Enabling Technologies and is always at the forefront of new media that can provide tools and platforms for making marginalized voices heard.Amy Lowe is Service Delivery Director at AbilityNet, a technology charity that supports disabled people to achieve their objectives at home, at work and in education.Having spent 15 years working in a variety of roles within serviced property and IT providers, Amy joined AbilityNet in 2016, drawn by the opportunity to leverage technology to bring down barriers to participation for disabled people. She feels privileged to work with a fantastic team of talented individuals working towards AbilityNet’s vision: A digital world accessible to all. Amy is also a trustee of CITA, the Charity IT Association, CITA has a team of highly skilled IT volunteers that provide low cost IT support and strategic advice to the charity sector to enable them to use technology to increase their reach and impact. Professor Nicola Martin has worked with disabled people in education for over 30 years and is currently Professor leading on research, higher degrees and student experience in education at London South Bank University. Her research interests and approach to teaching are driven by a commitment to equality and social justice, emancipatory research and ensuring that narratives of marginalised people inform her practice.Nicola has developed a range of social justice focused higher degrees including an EdD and MA programmes in education which focus on autism, disability and leadership. The portfolio includes a PG Cert. specifically focused on mentoring of people on the autism spectrum in post compulsory education. Courses are informed by the lived experiences of disabled and marginalised people.Nicola’s academic area is Critical Disability Studies, with a focus on the requirements of students with autism. She is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge, working on autism research with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. Her autism research is highly influential internationally. She is a National Teaching Fellow and a Fellow at Sheffield Hallam and of the Royal Society of Arts.Nicola is currently working on research (funded by Research Autism) which seeks to understand what young people on the autism spectrum think constitutes effective mentoring. She is a member of The Westminster Commission on Autism.Nicola is currently co-editing a collection for Pavilion, with Dr Damian Milton, on autism and intellectual impairment. The publication is aimed at health, social care and education practitioners. Damian and Nicola have recently set up the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) at LSBU.Nicola has recently completed a piece of research (in press) focusing on the requirements of disabled leaders in H.E. Nicola is a longstanding member of NADP Board, and former NADP Chair and an Editor of The Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education. She is convener of The Disability Equality Research Network (DERN).Patrick McGrath is the resident Education Technology Strategist at Texthelp. A passionate educator, Patrick is an accomplished international speaker, blogger, panelist and contributor across a wide range of media. Whilst focusing on how technology can make a real and meaningful impact on teaching and learning for all, Patrick has a particular interest in inclusion and equity for all. An Apple Education Mentor and Google Certified Educator, Patrick received the UK Digital Leader 100 award in 2016 and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Ulster (School of Education). His specialist areas include literacy, inclusion, assessment, educational vision, leadership, and change management. Find Patrick on twitter @TH_Patrickm or pmcgrath.me Ivan Newman is a Specialist Diagnostic Assessor and Study Skills Tutor for HE students with Specific Learning Difficulties. He combines science, managerial, general business and writing backgrounds to give learners kinaesthetic and multisensory techniques for mastering their studies, spanning, literally, Anthropology to Zoology. He is also undertaking doctoral studies into the UK Government’s modernisation of DSAs, including the implementation of inclusive teaching and learning environments.Graeme Pedlingham is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Sussex and Head of the University’s Foundation Year Programme. It is with this latter Programme that he has worked to embed inclusivity more fully, with the aim of enabling a diverse cohort of students to flourish. In 2019 the Programme was awarded an AdvanceHE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence, in part for this focus on inclusivity. He has led a wide range of projects focused on inclusive practice, including pedagogical research and delivering training, and is currently the lead for Sussex’s new Inclusive Curriculum policy.Jonathan Staal is currently Inclusion Services Manager at Edinburgh Napier University, with responsibility for the Disability Inclusion team, the Student Funding team and an institution-wide remit to nurture inclusive practice. Before joining Edinburgh Napier in March 2018, he was Student Services Manager at Fife College and prior to that had 14 years at Abertay University.Professor Geoff Layer has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton since August 2011.Before joining Wolverhampton he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Bradford and prior to that, after years of teaching and researching in Sheffield Business School, he became the Professor of Lifelong Learning in 1996 and Head of Access and Guidance at Sheffield Hallam University.Geoff has always been active regionally, nationally and internationally. He is a Board Member of Advance HE, the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was Chair of the Department for Education’s Disabled Students Sector Leadership Group and is now Chair of the Disabled Students’ Commission. Geoff is currently Chair of the Student Loans Company Stakeholder Forum and Chair of Universities West Midlands (UWM). Geoff is also a governor for the Telford College Corporation, a Trustee of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning, a Trustee of the Worker's Educational Association (WEA) and is an appointed governor on the Council of Governors of the West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust.Between 2000 and 2006 he was the Director of Action on Access, an agency established to advise HEFCE on its Widening Participation Strategy. He was also Director of the HEFCE Innovations Co-ordination Team from 2000-2002 and has researched and published widely on Inclusive Education.He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, A Fellow of Leeds College of Music and was awarded the OBE for services to Higher Education in 2003.2962275000National Association of Disability Practitioners LtdLansdowne Building2 Lansdowne RoadCroydonSurreyCR9 2ERTelephone: 0208 263 6220Email: admin@ ................
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