Disability Community Ambassadors: Working to improve attainment, retention, progression and experience for disabled and neurodiverse students through community creation
Department: Psychology, School of Physics, Engineering & Technology, Chemistry, Education
Project Leads: Amanda Hickey (Psychology), Bryan Hughes (School of PET), Stephen Cowling (Chemistry), Mike Wray (Education)
Summary
The DISCO (Disability Community) Project is an interdisciplinary group aiming to foster community and belonging among disabled and neurodiverse students through an inter-departmental community support network. These communities intend to bridge the gaps disabled students experience in attainment, attrition, progression and student experience. Student interns will become Disability Community Ambassadors (DCAs) to help support these communities within participating departments. They will implement findings from previous DISCO project research exploring the current experiences of community and belonging among disabled students at the University. In co-collaboration with existing community members they will support existing and new community initiatives, build an alumni network and co-design a toolkit to support community growth at the University for disabled students at any level of study.