Representation

Promoting the representation of students with disabilities is a primary objective of ANSWD.

How to get a disability officer on your universities student representative body

The first step is usually, joining a student organisation:

option 1
Put forward a motion to establish the position of students with disabilities representative filled by a student with disabilities elected by students with disabilities at the general elections of the student organisation at the student organisation's Annual General Meeting.

If they want this position to be an office bearer position, you have to list a number of related responsibilities and duties other than simply representing students with disabilities, e.g. liaising with the DLO, liaising with ANSWD, establishing a resource base, etc.

option 2

If that does not work run for position on your student representative council and then once elected put forward the motion again. The downside of this method is that the position once established would be elected by the student representative council members as in persons who are not students with disabilities.

Once the position have been established, the final step is to get students with disabilities nominating for that position.

Benefits of establishing a Students With Disabilities Collective on your campus

having a democratic atmosphere
having a talent pool to draw upon
sharing the workload

Running a Students With Disabilities Collective

advertise meetings in students with disabilities pertinant communications;
hold meetings in Disability Resource room in the library or where students with disabilities usually gather;
if the Disability Resource Room in the library is too small to hold meetings, then hold meetings in a large space close to either the Disability Resource Room, Equity and Diversity or both;
hold coffee or lunch meetings;
establish an online social networking space in which the ANSWD website address and ANSWD flyers are advertised
liaise and work closely with the people in the tertiary educational institution's unit or department that administers dissability services;
speak at and be involved in events organised by your Tertiary Educational Institution's unit or department that administers disability services;
be involved in student organisation's cross department events;
hold a disability awareness week at your tertiary educational institution.

How to start and promote a Students with Disabilities society or collective

Starting an Organisation of Students with Disabilities on your Campus

establishing an answd society on your campus

In combination with information from the link above:

find a group of students with disabilities/chronic medical conditions who are willing to set up an answd society;
contact the tertiary educational institution department or unit administering disability services to help;
once you have the numbers, hold a meeting to determine the leadership group and a constitution;
the purpose of an answd society is:
a. to promote answd;
b. to act as a social, cultural, sporting and political outlet for students with disabilities/chronic medical conditions;
Affiliate the society with your student organisation

Establishing consistent disability support service provision

Contacting tertiary educational institutions and finding students with disabilities representatives and activists

First we need to make contact with public and private Universities, Polytechnics, TARFE and private colleges, throughout Australasia in order to establish contacts with students and find students to become involved in ANSWD.

ANSWD's has put together some instructions for ANSWD representatives to help get the ball rolling. Here are some links that should be of use to you:

Australian Department of Education, Science and Training website
Links to all Australian Universities
Links to all the Australian TAFES
List of all New Zealand Universities
List of New Zealand Tertiary Student Associations
Ministry of Education NZ - Tertiary Education
Student Unionism in Australia containing links to University Student Unions in Australia
Tertiary Institutions' Disability Services
The National Disability Coordination Officers List

Thanks in advance for your help in getting this network established and promoting the representation of Students with Disabilities!

Suggestions for making contact with Tertiary Educational Institutions

For all the major Tertiary Educational Institutions in Australia and New Zealand, firstly check out their web site. Do a search for "student association" or "student union" or browse through an A-Z index if they have one. This will contain something about the student councils/unions on campus.

On the Student Organisation's website look for "executive", "committee" or "contact". Try do a search for using "Disability", "Disabilities", or "Access".

Email them and ask who is the Disability Representative. If you are a student organisation Students with Disabilities Representative already, try using the SRC office to ring people in the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit that administers disability services. If you find a name, contact details etc. WRITE THEM DOWN. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to find someone again that you only found by fluke the first time.

If you can't find a Students with Disability representative on their student organisation's web site, email the Student Organisation's Secretary and/or President and ask them if there is one and if they could forward you their contact details. Hopefully they will get back to you soon.

When you find there is no disability representative

Your only option, in this case, is to contact the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit that administers Disability Services and ask around for a person with regular student contact. Explain who you are and that you represent ANSWD. Tell the Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) you are looking for someone from that Tertiary Educational Institution to be a contact for ANSWD and we will support that person in gaining a position on their student organisation's governing body as a Students Disability Officer if they would like that.

This is the cheap way of making contact, as email is free. The more expensive way is via phone. Many Tertiary Educational Institutions have course inquiry lines that are freecall 1800 (Australia) or 0800 (New Zealand) numbers. When you want to contact a Tertiary Educational Institution, call directory assistance and ask for the Universites freecall 1800 or 0800 number. Once you are in on this line, they can direct your call to anywhere within the Tertiary Educational Institution. This also includes distant or regional campuses.

You found someone who's interested to know more about ANSWD

At this stage either you have found a student organisation Students with Disabilities representative or you have a person inside the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit who administers Disability Services who is interested in what you have to say. Great! Ask them to subscribe to the mailing list and ask them to introduce themselves. They can contribute to the network in this manner - letting us all know how they got to be where they are.

If you get a person from the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit which administers Disability Services, the work is a little harder, but by no means impossible. As I have said before, many people from the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit who administer Disability Services, around the Australasian region are very receptive to this idea. You need to ask the person from the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit that administers Disability Services is if they have a student society for people with disabilities. Be aware that not many Tertiary Educational Institutions have this, even really large Tertiary Educational Institutions. If they do have such a society, then you can ask for the email address of the President or ask the person from the c to forward yours on to them and then start talking about the network. Make sure you ask the the president to subscribe to the mailing list!

If there is no collective or disability group at the Tertiary Educational Institution

All is still not lost. Ask for the names of a few students who have been particularly active around campus in the disability area or uses the Library's Disability Resource Room often. A number of people from the Tertiary Educational Institution's department or unit which administer Disability Services will always be able to name a few students, as they are the primary people that a student will contact. You can then encourage this student to join the mailing list and offer our assistance in establishing a society or collective and then getting some representation happening on their student organisation.

If there is no Disability Liaison Officer

This is really bad news, and if you come across a Tertiary Educational Institution that does not have one, please let us know and we will let ATEND or ACHIEVE know and we can get something done about this.

Student officers email list

If you are a student organisation students with disabilities representative/office bearer in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand, we would like you to subscribe to the Student Officers email list so that you can exchange information with others.

For more information click here for Student Officer email list.

List of letters relating to representation

Letter to NZUSA 32kb

CRUX Postgraduate Student Association letter 28kb

Student representation on your campus letter 121kb

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