The Open University is a lifechanging opportunity for many students who need to study remotely, at their own pace, due to caring responsibilities, disability, or illness.
The Government green paper & spring statement, outlining £5bn in cuts to disability benefits, combined with the negative and irresponsible things MPs are saying about disabled people in the news, has caused a great deal of anxiety about our future.
The Student Leadership Team should contact student groups such as Universities Against Disability Cuts UK (UADC), and disability groups such as Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC). The team should discuss how students, staff, and the Open University as an institution, can support disabled students and students with caring responsibilities. This should involve supporting our mental wellbeing at this upsetting time, but also exploring how to publicly oppose the disability benefit cuts that will have such a negative impact on disabled students, carers, and disabled members of staff.