DISABLED STAFF NETWORK Dr Hamied Haroon & Mrs Melanie Sharpe Co-Chairs

About Us! Hamied Postdoctoral Research Associate in Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Imaging Melanie Training Professional in IT Services 2

Founded in Oct 2004 by merging VUM & UMIST Largest single-site university in the UK More than 12,000 members of staff – one of the largest employers in Greater Manchester The biggest student community: a total of more than 40,000 students from the UK, EU and beyond Disability declared by 8.9% of staff and 11.6% of students 3 H

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BACKGROUND DISABLED STAFF NETWORK 5 M

2006: The Beginning University obliged to produce Disability Equality Scheme under the Disability Discrimination Act E&D and DASS (Disability Advisory and Support Service) brought together University staff who declared a disability to consult on the Scheme Birth of our Disabled Staff Network … 6 M

Overall Aim To provide a “voice” within the University for disability equality Open to all members of staff at the University who either – consider themselves to have an impairment or long term health/medical condition – are interested in disability equality 7 M

Staff Network Groups Black and Minority Ethnic Christian Disabled International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans Muslim Retirement Peer Support Returning from Maternity Leave Support Caring Responsibilities Peer Support Women in IT Women in Life Sciences Women in Science, Engineering & Technology Women Professors 8 H

Equality & Diversity Forum Chaired by Associate Vice-President for Social Responsibility Deputy President & Deputy Vice Chancellor Registrar & Secretary Director of HR Director of Estates Director of Student Life Head of E&D Head of DASS Chairs of Staff Networks Interfaith Rep Students’ Union Women’s Officer Students’ Union Welfare Officer Reps of Campus Trades Unions 9 M

HOW DO WE ADD VALUE? 10 H

Activity Formal meetings 3 times a year, often involving a guest speaker Social get-togethers for members to meet-up and have a friendly chat Representation on University committees and input on policy & practice – E&D Forum and Disability Consultative Group – E&D Committees in Central Areas and Academic Faculties/Schools Champion in University Senior Management Team in 2012 – Professor Clive Agnew, Vice President for Teaching, Learning & Students Working with other parts of the University – Disabled Students and our Students’ Union – Counselling Service, Estates, Staff Learning & Development – SPORT, Conferences & Venues, The Manchester Museum, The Whitworth – Local Branches of UCU, UNITE and UNISON 11 H

Achievements 2008: Gained support from the University’s President & Vice Chancellor to be one of the first universities in the country to provide dedicated advice and support for disabled staff and managers in DASS! 12 M

Achievements 2013: University signs Time To Change Pledge and Action Plan Annual Time To Talk events, Workshops and Talks around Mental Health for staff and students 13 Professor Clive Agnew and Karen Machin signing the Pledge M

Achievements 2014: Result CIC provide “Achieve Your Potential” Development Programme and one-to-one Coaching specifically for disabled staff Rerun in 2015 and Result CIC won the NDA 2015 Award! H

Achievements 6 th June 2014: “What Are We Hiding?” – the first National Conference of the UK’s Disabled Workforce, held at The University of Manchester Focussed on hidden disabilities and the hidden contribution of disabled people to the economy and society 15 Scenes from the Conference and the University Student Ambassadors who helped out M

Achievements 3 rd December 2014 and 2015: Celebration of the International Day of Disabled People Jointly with the Disabled Staff Forum at Manchester Metropolitan University, our E&D teams and Students’ Unions 16 MMU-UoM IDDP Celebration 2014 UoM-MMU IDDP Celebration 2015 H

Coming up … 3 rd November 2016: Lord Morris of Manchester Memorial Lecture – the first annual lecture focussing on disability equality at The University of Manchester In collaboration with Alf’s family, Mike Kane MP, Manchester Trades Union Council and the NW TUC Disability Forum Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE will be our inaugural speaker! 17 Baron “Alf” Morris of Manchester AO QSO PC (1928 – 2012) Baroness “Tanni” Grey-Thompson DBE DL H

ENGAGING OUTSIDE THE NETWORK 18 H

Communications UniLife April 2015 incite Autumn 2015 University of Manchester StaffNet Announcement PossAbility Magazine H

Recognition 2015: The University of Manchester’s first ever Making A Difference Awards for Social Responsibility Melanie and Hamied WON the Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Equality & Diversity (Staff)” 20 Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell presenting the award M

Recognition 2015: Inclusive Networks Inaugural Awards Our Network was FINALIST as “Health & Wellbeing Network of the Year” The University of Manchester was also a FINALIST as an “Investor in Network Groups” 21 At the awards night with Paul Marks-Jones M

NEXT STEPS 22 M

Going Forward Addressing issues around disclosure of disability and increasing involvement of members in Network meetings and events Reaching out to colleagues who do not have access to or work in “satellite” areas Looking at a charter mark or standard for disability, appropriate for our University Working more closely with other staff networks 23 M

nadsn-uk.org Connecting Disabled Staff

Who We Are A super-network that connects and represents disabled staff networks Focussed on the tertiary education sector (i.e. universities and colleges) Open to any individual and organisation (public, private, social or voluntary) interested in the equality of disabled staff in this sector A collective platform to share experiences and good practice, and examine challenges and opportunities 25

Some Facts Launched at the “What Are We Hiding?” National Conference on 6 th June 2014 at The University of Manchester 101 subscribers to NADSN list on JISCMail Disabled staff networks at 49 different organisations represented (mostly universities) Founding Steering Group of 30 leading disabled staff from all parts of the UK Supported by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), the National Association of Disability Practitioners (NADP) and PurpleSpace 26

Activities 27 WhenWhatWhere 4 th Mar st NADSN ConferenceUniversity of Chester Diversity Festival nd Jul 2015“NADSN – Experiences from our Disabled Staff Networks across the UK” Workshop NADP International Conference, Manchester 11 th Sep 2015Written Evidence from NADSN submitted to the Select Committee on “the Equality Act 2010 and Disability” House of Lords 6 th Oct 2015Invitation from Kate Nash OBE to attend PurpleSpace Launch Party Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, City of London 14 th Oct 2015NADSN representation on the HEFCE E&D Strategy Workshop HEFCE, London 1 st Mar 2016NADSN’s first journal publicationJournal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education (Vol 7: pp 28-33) 22 nd Apr nd NADSN ConferenceUniversity of Bradford Diversity Festival 2016

More Information To find out more, please visit us at You can join NADSN via the “Contact Us” page 28