Weeknotes — 7 December

Highlights from another interesting and varied week:

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• On Monday, I went to a webinar hosted by the Business Disability Forum on making events accessible. I think what I took away was the principle of being pro-active, rather than reactive, and always remembering that ‘compliance is not inclusion’. I’ll definitely be using their toolkit as I plan for events in 2026.
• On Tuesday, I went to a workshop looking at how we support people through the research cycle at the university. What information do they need at what points in the process of applying for, delivering, and completing a research project? It was interesting to work with one of the business analysts on this.
• I co-delivered a training session on LGBTQ+ Allyship at work. I’ve created some scenarios for this training, which seem to be working well for the participants. I’m a big fan of using scenarios for training because it encourages people to think the issues through and learn from each other through discussion. It’s a difficult time for the community. There’s a lot of distress, fear, and uncertainty, especially for trans and gender diverse people, so it’s really important to have this training on offer.
• On Wednesday, I went to the University’s event for Disability History Month/International Day of Disabled People. I thought it was a really good event. We had a lot of information stands there and it was lovely to catch up with some organisations I’ve worked with in the past. The panel discussion was excellent and there were great contributions from UCAN Productions.
• This week I’ve been working on analysing the impact of our Ignite small grant award projects and gave a presentation to the wider team on Thursday. Overall, it’s a very positive picture. I’m particularly impressed by the diversity and range of work delivered through the programme.
• Sadly, I missed Doers & Improvers Bookclub this week because I was committed elsewhere, but I have read and enjoyed the book, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?