What is the DIsabled Student’s Group (DSG)?
The Disabled Student’s Group is one of 3 affiliated groups in the OU Student’s Association based on protected characteristics. The others are OU Pride, the LGBTQ+ group, and the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) group.
The DSG was set up 20 years ago and has been going from strength to strength each year!
The group is for students with a wide range of disabilities to come together, meet other students, find out about opportunities that are being offered and support services available by joining our Facebook group and our DSG Cafe forum.
The group is supported by a committee of disabled students who want to work together to support their peers.
How Do I Join?
To become a member you will need to visit the Disabled Students Group by visiting our page on the Association website and registering as a member. Then you will get access to the Facebook group and the DSG Cafe forums and become a full member.
What is the role of a committee member?
This really depends on the type of role you are applying for. There are three “officer” positions available, these are the Chair, Secretary and PR Comms.
- The Chair is the head of the committee and chairs the meetings and represents the DSG at events and things.
- The Secretary is responsible for a lot of the admin work and takes the minutes at meetings.
- The PR and Comms manager is responsible for everything involving public relations and communications. Our current PR and Comms member has recently started a newsletter to be sent out to our members.
Then there are the 8 general committee member positions, the basic responsibilities of this role are to support the 3 officers to complete their roles and to assist with events, promotions and supporting students.
How much time will I need for the role?
This really depends on which role you are taking on.
The officer roles tend to require a larger time commitment than the committee members do but we all chip in and do our part. A lot of it involves engaging with students on forums and groups so you will need to be available for that and for monthly meetings.
During times such as Freshers and Conference the hours will increase slightly as we get involved in different events.
Basically in a role like this, the more you put in to it, the more you get out and the more rewarding you will find it!
How do I apply?
To apply to be on the committee you MUST be a current member, not just of the Facebook group but have signed up on the DSG website and been approved.
Then you can visit the Association website to nominate yourself for one of the positions.
Hurry though! Nominations close on the 29th of November! Followed by a 2 week voting process and the new committee will be announced on 20th of December.
If you have any questions regarding the process you can always email disabledstudentsgroup@groups.open.ac.uk for more information.
I hope you have found this article helpful and if you do decide to nominate yourself – I wish you the absolute best of luck!
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