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Good evening. Thank you for bearing with us. Good evening to those of you in the room and good evening to those of you online. I say good evening,

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And sometimes for these events, we have a international guests

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and so it depends on where you are, good whatever.

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My name is Sarah Stephenson-Hunter.  I am the current Joint Interim Head of the Equality and Diversity Unit here at the University of Oxford.

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and also the Staff Disability Advisor.

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It is my pleasure to just briefly welcome you here to the event, to tell you a little about the housekeeping,

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and then I will hand over to our chief diversity officer, Tim Soutphommasane, who will introduce the speaker and we will crack on with the event. 

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It is a pleasure to have you all here.  We have a full agenda, packed agenda, lots of learning and discovery as we go, 

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so that's great. So. In terms of housekeeping, for those of you actually in the building,

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we have bathrooms, which do include a wheelchair accessible bathroom, and which are behind you. 

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We do apologise that there is no gender neutral option. 

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There are no fire alarms scheduled, which is good to know at this time of night. So  hopefully they won’t go off,

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but if they do, then you should follow the events team here. 

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They will lead us out to the appropriate place. For those who are joining on Zoom, and thank you for bearing with us

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while we sort out technicalities,

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as you will hear throughout the evening, we’re very pleased that we have been able to offer BSL online this evening.  That has added a level of complexity,

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but we have got there with that.  We also have captioning

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and for those of you on Zoom who aren’t familiar, if you press the CC button for closed captioning, then you should be able to enable that. 

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We actually have professional captioning, not AI generated captioning, which is good, but which has its limitations.  

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In terms of the BSL interpreters, you can re-size or hide the interpreter as you wish within Zoom, so please do whatever helps you feel more able to participate with that.

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If you have any problems with Zoom, then please do ask the co-host. 

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We have a team of people back monitoring the Zoom,

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so any technical issues there please do ask for assistance.

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And I think that's everything.

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Without any further ado, I shall stop there and I shall hand over to our Chief Diversity Officer, who is going to introduce the speaker.

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Thank you so much, Sarah, and welcome everyone who is here in person and joining us online. 

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What a pleasure it is to be introducing this year's Disability Lecture here at Oxford!  

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It is the University's ninth annual Disability Lecture,

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and I'm very pleased to say, as we know, it is the first one to be British Sign Language interpreted. 

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I've been polishing up on my British Sign Language, so I think this [BSL for “Congratulations!”]  and this [BSL for applause] is definitely called for.  Hopefully I have got the same

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 - I'm more familiar with Auslan as opposed to BSL. 

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But this event is a great testament to the community of academic and professional colleagues who 

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are working to ensure that Oxford is a place and has a culture that is inclusive of everyone. 

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And I want to acknowledge in particular the work of the Equality and Diversity Unit, and the 

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Disability Advisory Group, who have put together the event for this evening; to Catherine Walter

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I don’t know where she’s gone, she appears to have left the room momentarily

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but to Catherine and colleagues from the Disability Advisory Group, 

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I want to say thank you for your leadership in disability and inclusion, and indeed on equality, diversity and inclusion more broadly.

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In the short months that I’ve been here at Oxford, 

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Catherine has been a valued voice of counsel, and someone who I know will always speak up for what is right, 

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and she’s a wonderful advocate and a role model.

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And the same is true as well of Sarah Stephenson-Hunter, the University’s Staff Disability Advisor, and for the past few months

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the Joint Interim Head of EDU. A big thank you for everything that you do, Sarah.

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Now we often hear people ask why diversity matters for universities. 

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I think the answer is very simple. Diversity is at the heart of academic excellence.

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It enriches our teaching, our learning, and our research. And where we are able to remove barriers and biases, that doesn’t hinder our academic mission;

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it enables it. It enhances it. 

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For example, in the years since women have engaged in medical research,  advances in knowledge about women's medical issues have accelerated.

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Moreover, the ways in which diversity improves research and the advancement of knowledge are not always predictable. 

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For instance,

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studies of American Sign Language by teams that have included deaf scientists have led to exciting new findings in fields such as neurolinguistics. 

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Now for those of us who work on matters of diversity and equality or equity and inclusion, this is a straightforward proposition.

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But not everyone, of course, sees things this way,

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And it's the responsibility of those of us who are committed to EDI to make sure that we take the opportunity to start and continue conversations,

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to shift attitudes and understandings, indeed, to keep working for change. 

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Well, events such as tonight are one way that we can help build understanding of diversity,

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as well as celebrate those who have made important contributions.

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and tonight we are so pleased to welcome Dr Jessica Boland to share with us her work in quantum materials

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and I confess, Jessica, I know nothing about quantum materials,

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so I'm going to learn a lot tonight – as well as her experiences as an academic with severe hearing loss. In the UK today

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an estimated one in 50 people have hearing loss that is severe enough that they cannot hear the most conventional speech. 

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By 2035 the number of UK adults with substantial hearing loss is expected to reach 14 million. 14 million!  

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Now those are significant numbers. But how well does the academy or higher education provide, then, for students and academics with hearing loss?

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This is a question that I believe Dr Boland will be exploring, among other things, in her lecture tonight.

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A little bit about Dr Jessica Boland. She has conducted ground-breaking research in new topological quantum materials for technology. 

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She is an alumna of Oxford, having completed her DPhil here in 2017,

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and that DPhil involved developing a new technique for extracting key opto-electronic properties in nanowires.

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Is that right? OK. Great! I've been doing my research here!  

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She was awarded an EPSRC Doctoral Prize to continue this work in solar cell applications,

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and as we can see on the slide there, she is now a Senior Lecturer of Functional Materials at the University

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of Manchester and a UKRI Future Leader Fellow. Dr Boland is also an active member of Tigers in STEMM.

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This is a group of UK professionals and students in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine

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who are passionate about improving equality, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

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So to Catherine and colleagues, a really inspired choice to invite Jessica to give this year's lecture. 

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We're delighted to have you back in Oxford. Will you please join me in welcoming Dr Jessica Boland.

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Thank you for that wonderful introduction. It's really really heart-warming to hear that,

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so thank you. And it's great to be back in Oxford as well.

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I'd also like to thank Sarah and Catherine for the invitation. 

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It's a real honour to be here, especially because my predecessor at Manchester, who runs the Disabled Staff Network,

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Hamied Haroon - I think he's online - also gave this two years ago, and he's been an inspiration for me,

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so it's really an honour to kind of follow in his footsteps, and all the other people that have given this lecture. I promise

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I'm not going to scare you too much with topology in this talk.

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And I really loved my English teacher telling me, if you use alliteration and the power of three you'll have a great title,

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hence Terahertz, Topology and Telecoil Loops.  

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I'm going to start by just giving you kind of an introduction, a little bit, to my career, which has already been explored a little bit.

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But what you probably don't know is that I wasn't always interested in physics and engineering. 

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So at the top of this slide there's an actual cute photo of me in a little red tutu back when I was about 12.

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So I wanted to be a professional ballerina before I thought science was a good career.

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I didn't realise that you probably should hear the music to be a ballerina.

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But actually, blissfully, I think the fact that I didn't grow more than five foot was more of the issue that I couldn't be a professional ballerina.

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And my parents told me, you're doing well at school, keep going and just see what other options are available.

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So I did have an explore. I thought "The Mummy" was a fantastic film and so maybe I could look at some skeletons and become an archaeologist.

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I might still do that if science doesn't work out for me.

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There's a picture here of a Roman soldier. I didn't want to be a Roman soldier, but I considered doing classics as well,

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maybe some Roman history. Then I tried to explore languages. 

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Eventually I found my way to maths and physics. 

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And the real reason that I thought physics was for me was because a maths teacher said 

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"Please stop asking me why maths is important and go do a physics degree, and you won't get bored".

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And she was perfectly right, so thank you to Mrs. Wright, my maths teacher, 

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for where I've got today. But everyone should consider how science and engineering affects your lives. 

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And you might have an unconventional start into it. So you know, if you're sat there in humanities, science might be for you - I'll try and persuade you.

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But that's how my career really started, as I liked physics a lot. 

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And here's a timeline of just kind of how I got to becoming a lecturer at Manchester. 

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So my Master's in Physics was completed at Exeter and I got to do a research project for the first time. 

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And that was with Professor Sir John Roy Sambles, who recently led the Institute of Physics,

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and I got to look at meta-materials, which they told me could make invisibility cloaks. 

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Who doesn't want to make an invisibility cloak? 

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I certainly did. I didn't make an invisibility cloak, sorry,

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during that Master's project, but I did realise that doing applied physics and experiments was quite exciting,

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and I thought, let me explore that a little bit more. I had a year in industry, in Hewlett Packard Labs, and that was trying to make a colour Kindle.

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So the Kindle liquid crystal display is reflective, trying to make that. And I thought, ooh 

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Engineering is pretty cool as well, so maybe I can combine physics and engineering. 

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At the end of my undergraduate, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go into industry or whether to stay in academia. 

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And I explored around and I found Professor Michael Johnston's group here in Oxford. 

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Based just at the Clarendon Laboratory on Parks Road. And he was looking at terahertz spectroscopy and how that could be used to look at new materials. 

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When I went to see his lab, I saw there was lots of lasers in it. 

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I thought I'd become a Bond villain and that was really the logic behind that PhD project. 

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But I had an absolutely fantastic time. 

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I didn't become a Bond villain and I did get to use lasers, but I got to find out about these kind of exciting quantum materials. 

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And Michael was a fantastic mentor and supported me all that time during my PhD and really helped me to succeed. 

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It was a massive jump from undergrad to PhD. And that's something I'll talk about later in terms of your support tends to drop off as you go through. 

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So his support in making sure that I could access the lab was really quite vital, so making sure I didn't quit that PhD.

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At then at the end of the PhD I didn't know if I wanted to be in industry again, or academia, 

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but realised that I really enjoyed teaching. And I didn't want to join a school, 

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but I did think maybe academia could be a good combination of research and experiments and teaching. 

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So then I pursued an academic career and that involved moving to Germany, moving to 

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Bavaria to do a post-doc and then finally landing myself at the University of Manchester, 

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which has grey weather all the time and rains. 

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I'll just wait til the interpreter is spotlighted again, and then we can move on the slides.

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IT SUPPORT >> Unfortunately, the only way we can see the interpreter is if we see ourselves as well.

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So it's just that we're going to have to see both. JB >> Yes, that's fine.

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JB >> So during this time as well... IT SUPPORT >> (explaining to audience)

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JB >> So during this time as well, this is now a timeline that I'm showing about my relationship with my disability.

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Now I'm calling it a hidden disability, because when I was younger I was trying to hide it. 

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It was something that I was embarrassed of. I'm not embarrassed of it at all and you shouldn't be embarrassed about it. 

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But when I was younger, it was something that I was finding quite challenging to deal with. 

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So I've been deaf with a little "d" since birth. I grew up with a hearing family. My parents are hearing. All my brothers and sisters are hearing. 

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So I grew up in a hearing environment. So when we see a little "d" with deaf, 

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that means that English is my first language, brought up in a hearing environment. 

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If you see a big "D", this usually means that sign language, 

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BSL, is your first language and you're part of a Deaf community and you've been brought up in that community. 

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So when I was younger, I was very much a small "d" in a hearing world, trying to access the support that I needed. 

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I didn't get diagnosed and get hearing aids till quite late and you'll see kind of why later on that diagnosis was quite late. 

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So it was secondary school when I first got hearing aids and radio aids. 

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I have a love-hate relationship with my hearing aids. Probably because I got bullied at school for it. 

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I now am pretty proud to wear them, but I still have that love-hate relationship with them. 

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University: used hearing aids all the time and had quite a few operations. 

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My dad likes to call me the Bionic Woman, because I now have artificial ears. 

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So after those operations I have artificial eardrums and a metal implant inside my ear. 

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And then when I started my job, I then had to assess: How am I going to deal with my hearing loss?  

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Maybe I need to start thinking about something else. 

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So I'm currently in the process of looking for a bone-anchored hearing aid, because it's too sore to wear these hearing aids now for a long time, 

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so I'm looking towards a bone-anchored hearing aid for my hearing loss, 

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and I've started to learn BSL. 

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So when I moved to Manchester, that's when I really started to learn BSL, and have absolutely enjoyed it. It is a beautiful language 

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and it has also helped me so much now in my science career. And learning science signs

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has really helped as well with the concept of teaching, which I'm going to talk about a little bit later on. 

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Something I did notice though as I'm dealing with my disability while alongside this research career is how technology has changed. 

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So on this next slide I've just got some images of how technology has changed from 1973 to today. 

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So in 1973 there's this lovely picture of a mobile phone that is the size of your head. 

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You have to carry a battery pack and it's really heavy and can only make a phone call. 

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Hands up please in the room if you remember these mobile phones. Yes. 

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Thank you for being honest and brave.

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Now as we move along from 1973 to today, all these photos you're seeing that the phones are getting smaller and smaller. 

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Your smartphones are now really really really quite thin and they're practically computers in your hands. 

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So technology has changed quite significantly. Not just with my hearing aids, but also with all of the devices that we currently own.

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And I found this particularly fascinating. And this is kind of why I started to think about these quantum materials and research. 

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So I was trying to look at next generation devices, from starting at undergraduate at Exeter with my invisibility cloaks. 

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I've got a picture of Harry Potter here in his invisibility cloak. 

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I didn't achieve that, that's not what we managed to do. 

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But we were trying to do cloaking in the microwave frequency range.

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So radars of planes, trying to cloak that. And something that I'm doing now is in the terahertz range.

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So this coloured image in the middle here, you've got a hand that's lighting up red. 

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Because your hand is really hot. 

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The types of devices that I'm making are trying to cloak that.

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This square blue patch on top of the hand is blue because that's cold, 

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it's shielding the heat behind the hand. You can't see the heat in the hand. 

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This is effectively a cloaking device. So, it’s invisibility cloaks, but not in the ‘visible’, 

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sorry. That's very difficult to do. Not impossible, but difficult.

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So that was exciting – can I do that in the microwave and terahertz range?

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But also thinking about the displays as well, how can I make displays faster?

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I really enjoyed kind of physically making those devices.

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So my whole research aims have been based around smaller, faster and smarter. 

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That's what technology is doing. It's going smaller, faster and smarter.

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We're pretty small already. A transistor in your smartphone is currently the size of five nanometres.

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That's very tiny. That is like a million times smaller than a piece of hair.

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So very tiny, but we're still trying to get smaller than that. 

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We also want to get faster. And when we talk about faster in a device, we're talking about current flow. 

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Can we get a current in your device moving from one place to the other as quick as we can? 

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And smarter, we're talking about can we carry extra information when we're using a device. 

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So let me just show you how I'm doing that. So smaller - 

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here I've got a diagram showing a scale. So, couple of examples. 

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Tennis ball, size of your hand, you can say is about 10 centimetres.

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A drawing pin, the tip of the drawing pin is 1 millimetre.

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If you divide that roughly by a thousand, you're getting in between the size of a single hair and a red blood cell.

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Divide again by a thousand, and then you're getting onto the size of an order of bacteria and viruses and DNA.

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So really, really tiny. DNA is ten nanometres.

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So your transistors are smaller than DNA. Terrifying, Right.

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And to kind of help you imagine how small this is, going from 1 metre to 1 nanometre is exactly 

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the same as going from the diameter of the sun to my height or the height of a baby giraffe. 

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So it's quite a difference in scale, and it's really difficult to start seeing these types of nanomaterials.

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But these nanomaterials do exist, and this is the type of quantum materials that I'm looking at. Here is just a couple of examples. 

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So we've got things called nanowires, molecules, graphene.

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(if you're from Manchester you have to say graphene, I promise we don't get paid every time we do),

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But graphene, which is an atomic layer.

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If you roll that atomic layer into a cylinder, you've got carbon nanotubes. And you could put them in spheres and get molecules as well. 

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So these are the types of nanomaterials that people are looking at. And all of these have quantum behaviour. 

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So that's how we're going smaller. How do we go faster? 

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I have a picture here of a lorry.

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A massive lorry. And this I'm using as an example for the material that we call silicon. 

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All of your devices are made out of silicon. So your smartphone currently uses silicon transistors. 

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Most technology is based on silicon. But it's like a lorry.

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So you have this big lorry. Usually those lorries, if you're sat behind them on the motorway, have a speed limit.

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So does silicon. So silicon's speed limit,

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we call it mobility, and it's called 1400 centimetres squared per volts per second.

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Don't worry about that. Just keep the number 1400 in your head.

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OK, that's currently what silicon can do. Next to it,

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I've got a picture of a Ferrari, because that's what I'm trying to find.

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I'm trying to find a material that's a sports car. A really really fast material that beats this electron mobility, this speed of silicon. 

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So that's how we're going to try and get faster.

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We're going to measure this concept that we call electron mobility, and we're going to see if some materials can go faster than that.

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For smarter, this is about carrying information. 

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So on the top here I'm using an on/off signal. 

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So you've got a line that's high and then it goes down low for zero, up again for one, zero, on/off signals. 

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When we're trying to perform operations with a smartphone or in a quantum computer, we're using this on/off signal. 

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At the moment your smartphones do it just with voltage and current. 

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So your battery is giving a voltage and a current and it's giving you an on/off. 

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There are some really cool materials, the quantum materials, that have extra things that we can play with.

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So if we imagine that we've got a current going in one direction,

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that current can have something called spin that can go anti-clockwise and clockwise.

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It does link back to ballet because if you think of a ballerina pirouetting,

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they can go in a straight line, but they can turn either clockwise or anticlockwise.

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Our current electrons, can do that as well, if you like.

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That's one way of thinking about it. They can have spin up, spin down, which is spinning anticlockwise and clockwise.

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If we can read, "Is an electron there?", that's an on/off.

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If we can the read the spin, up-down, that's another on/off,

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so that's two channels. So that's a way of getting more information and getting smarter.

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Another cool thing we can do is instead of using electrons at all and using current, we can use light. 

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Light is the fastest thing you're going to find in the universe. It's got the fastest speed that we can have. 

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So also if we can use light instead of electrons, that's another way of getting faster and smarter. 

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And this is where the topology part comes in, so topological insulators. You're all going to be experts in a second, 

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it's going to be great. [laughs] These materials are very very strange. 

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I've got an image here where I've got a cube that's blue. And that cube is insulating. 

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So if I take a material, the inside of the material doesn't have any current flow, 

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it is insulating. But on top of that cube I've got some red surface.

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It's a different colour because the surface is actually a really really good conductor. 

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So you've got a material that inside doesn't have any current flow, but the surface has really really fast currents. 

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So the surface is my Ferrari. It's my new candidate for that faster material.

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I told you to remember the number 1,400. 

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Woof woof woof! Some of the speeds in this material at the surface can go up to 10 million centimetres squared

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per volt per second, so 1,400 to 10 million, 

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that's potentially extremely fast. I'm sorry, 

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at the moment what we're say in devices, it's always 20 years away, so don't get too excited, OK?  

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So there is a challenge of isolating that bulk in the surface and that's currently what our research is trying to do. 

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But as well, on this kind of new solid, what we've got to add to this picture now is that we now have two currents. 

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We've two lines over that cube, 

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so we've got one that's going clockwise around my cube, and one that's going anticlockwise.

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So those materials are not only faster, but they have two channels now, so more information. 

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And what's even spookier about these materials is that they don't care if there's defects.

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So if you put a horrible atom in the way that doesn't want to be there, the current can just ignore it, it doesn't get back-scattered, 

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it will just keep on going through. So a way to think about these materials is like you skating on an ice rink. 

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So you're going round in a circle, there's less heat and less resistance. So these materials could be more energy efficient.  

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Finally, terahertz radiation. So we've got these really cool candidates. 

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How do we then look at these materials? And that's where terahertz radiation comes in.

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Terahertz radiation is in between microwave and infra-red radiation. 

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So I've got a scale here of the electromagnetic spectrum that goes from radio, 

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microwave, infra-red, visible, UV, X-ray 

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and gamma. Terahertz sits just between that microwave and infra-red radiation. 

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Infra-red radiation is heat radiation and microwaves is what you use to cook your dinner.

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So terahertz is just in this beautiful sweet spot. 

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And I've got two pictures here to show you kind of how we use the terahertz radiation. 

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It's very similar to a thermal camera. If you were to use a thermal camera, you see if something is hot or cold. 

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So the image on the left is a picture of a wolf or a fox - 

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not quite sure, but most of the wolf and fox is in a colour of purple, which is indicating it's warm but not too warm. 

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Its eyes and its mouth and its ears are in bright yellow, 

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so it's really high intensity, 'cause that's the hottest parts on that particular image. 

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The one on the right is an image of a hand. The hand is really really hot 

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so that's coming up in red. Lots of intensity in this image, 

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that's lots of infra-red radiation. On the hand is a caterpillar. 

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That caterpillar is in blue. It's much much colder, 

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so you've got this beautiful red hand and then a tiny blue caterpillar

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because the caterpillar is colder. So infra-red cameras can show us if something is hot or cold. 

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If we do this with terahertz radiation, it's similar, 

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but this time it's showing us if your material's conductive or not. So it's showing you the speed of your material. 

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So this is what we're effectively doing when we use our lasers and our terahertz radiation.

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We're taking images of these really tiny nanomaterials. 

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We're combining the terahertz radiation with a microscope. 

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This is a picture of my lab. I'm going to describe it.

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It's effectively a mess with lots of optics on it. 

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Lots of optics, you can't really work out what's going on. 

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There's lots of mirrors, there's some lasers on the table, but it is a little bit complicated. 

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Also, I am the size of the width of this picture. So it's quite big kit as well that we have to use to use this terahertz radiation. 

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But what we can get out of it is these lovely 3D maps of these nanomaterials that can show us if it's conductive or not. 

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So on this slide I've got a grey image where I'm seeing a nanowire. 

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This is a topological insulating nanowire. It looks like a piece of candy cane.

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So it's a cylindrical shape, and it's got lines across it. 

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The actual shape of your nanowire is just a cylinder, 

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and if I look at the grey image it just looks like a grey cylinder. 

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There's no kind of special features.

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If I then take a terahertz image of this, you have some really bright lines of intensity, so it starts to look like that candy cane. 

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So the red parts of your candy cane, the kind of lines, 

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you've got some really bright intensity lines. And those are regions that are more conductive. 

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So just to remind you that this single nanowire is a million times smaller than a width of hair. 

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It's quite hard to look at these things, but we can show you how conductive it is. And we can map that in 3D, 

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and we can also look at the surface and the bulk independently. 

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And that's kind of what I'm up to at Manchester. So the microscope that takes this is actually unique now in the UK. 

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It can go down to low temperatures, to minus 207 degrees Celsius, pretty cold. 

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It can map the conductivity on these types of nanometre length scales, 

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and it can also do it on very quick timescales, so on the order of kind of 50 femtoseconds, that's ten to the minus 15 seconds, very very quick.

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So that's kind of what we're up to. But all of my research has been focused so far on answering that smaller, faster and smarter. 

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And I think we've got a good candidate to keep exploring. So we've got something that can be only two nanometres thick, 

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that's smaller than your transistors (Woohoo!), something that can be a hundred thousand times faster than silicon. 

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The speed at the moment in terms of a device isn't as good as we can get, but that's half of what we're looking at, 

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and we can go multifunctional. So that's really good. 

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All of my research so far has been smaller, faster, smarter. 

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But that's also what's been happening alongside that in terms of the devices that I use to give myself access as well. 

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So all of the hearing aids, all of the technology for that has also been getting smaller, faster and smarter. 

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So since I started kind of my journey with hearing aids and now they're bluetooth enabled, for example. 

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So I think that actually science and accessibility are a really 

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really good link together, and we should use the science that we're doing to give people access as well.

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So that's how they link for me as well. 

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I'm going to switch the talk a little bit now to focus on that side of it, and accessibility in STEMM, and how we can - 

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why it's important and how we can improve it. So I said that I'd talk a little bit about why some of the diagnosis was so late for 

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me and my journey and experiences of having what I'm calling a hidden disability. 

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For me it really was a hidden disability. Now I prefer to say it's a non-visible disability, because I don't want to hide it any more. 

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The Equality Act from 2010 says that a disability is a physical or mental impairment that has 

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a substantial or long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. 

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That is a broad definition.

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It encompasses loads of different types of disabilities which can be visual, hearing, learning, neurodiversity, physical, emotional and cognitive. 

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All of that fits in this definition of "disability".  

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It's important to note that in this definition, my hearing loss is classed as a disability. 

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But disclosure and identifying is a different matter. 

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So it's important, everybody's lived experiences are different. 

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If you were to speak to me when I was 16 and told me I was disabled, to be really honestly, I would not have liked that at all. 

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Now I'm very proud about it and it's important to realise those nuances. 

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This definition here is used to help us get support.  

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But you know, identity of being disabled and disclosure is a different topic and you really should talk to the person involved 

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and their lived experience as well. Lived experiences are really, really important.

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When we talk about disability, there's often three models that you might come across. 

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And I summarise these models, 

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you can find loads of research on this. And if you are interested in the different models, please come and ask me to share some references with you. 

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The medical model, you can probably see from how I've summarised it, is not one that I'm a fan of. 

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So the medical model says that we are the problem, that the disability is an abnormality, and it's purely a medical problem and that you have to fix us. 

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So, nope, that's enough time on that one. So, social model. OK, social model. This is completely different. 

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This says that we are disabled by society. 

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So it's a condition created by bad design.

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So it's the barriers that's disabling us. 

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Not us, we're fine, we're great. It's the barriers that are disabling us. 

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And the cultural model. This is saying that disability is a vital part of human diversity.

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So it's recognising identity as disability and the diversity between lived 

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experiences and the diversity amongst different groups within disability as well.

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All of these models have their pros and cons, and I'm happy to discuss what they are in the questions as well. 

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But what we're trying to really champion at Manchester with the Disabled Staff Network, also with other ones I'm involved in, 

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Tigers in STEMM and the National Association of Disabled Staff Networks, is the social model, that that should be a starting point. 

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Also we should celebrate disabled people and the amazing contributions that we give to society, but we need to address these barriers as well. 

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Specifically thinking about non-visible disabilities now and pros and cons with this. 

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So when I was younger, I did feel some pros to having a non-visible disability. 

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I felt a little bit like I could fit in with the hearing world, 

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enough that I could hide enough, so I could kind of fake it till you make it. 

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That, obviously, has a con with it, 

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but I did feel that there was less overt discrimination that I experienced when I was trying to hide my disability. 

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It is a shame that that was the case. 

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But that's my experience, that there was less overt discrimination. And there was no assumptions about what I could do and what I couldn't do. 

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But there was cons with that, so disbelief, discredit, 

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you've coped before, lack of access to support, and lack of awareness and understanding. 

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So although fake it to make it, I don't think I could have kept that up. 

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So being open about it and open about my non-visible disability was a choice to make sure that I got that support. And it needed it, 

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as I went through the career I needed that support more and more. 

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So let me show you some real quotes that highlight these as a pros and cons. And I'll read them out to you. 

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So: "She's too clever to be deaf. She should be a misbehaved child 

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and not succeeding at school. Her hearing loss can't be as bad as the tests show". 

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That was from a consultant and that's why I have had a late diagnosis. 

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So stereotypes are a massive problem. A really negative stereotype about what hearing loss should be and what a deaf person should be like. 

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A really negative stereotype from this one person meant that I didn't get hearing aids and get access to that till too late. 

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He got fired, don't worry. So it is still a problem. 

376
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So that is why we need to tackle this. It is a problem. 

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Dance teachers! "How can you sing and dance if you can't hear?" 

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I love karaoke. Karaoke is great because you know the words and how to keep in time. 

379
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So. But, it is a thing that somebody decided that I couldn't dance ever and I couldn't sing. 

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I did get my dance reports out, and there was a lot of comments about keeping in time with the music. 

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But I was blissfully unaware. I was having a great time. 

382
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So why spoil that, why put that limitation on me?

383
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And then colleagues: "Can't you just use your hearing aids?" 

384
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"I shouldn't have to change. I don't need to use a microphone."  

385
00:41:29,020 --> 00:41:32,500
How many times have we heard that one? Loads of things like that. 

386
00:41:33,070 --> 00:41:38,620
And even when you're trying to access things with HR and Access to Work. "You're not that disabled, are you?" 

387
00:41:38,620 --> 00:41:51,070
"You're not that deaf, are you?" Uff. Yeah. But there's positives. And this is towards the social model. Alongside this as well was the opposite of that. 

388
00:41:51,580 --> 00:41:58,600
So my parents said to me all the time, "You can do whatever you want. We will get your support". 

389
00:42:00,130 --> 00:42:04,630
Another music and dance teacher within the same dance school said, "Don't worry, 

390
00:42:04,930 --> 00:42:09,880
let's see how we can adapt the music tests and dance to let you succeed. 

391
00:42:10,300 --> 00:42:16,940
There are ways, and we will change how we work". And I did make it into the English Youth Ballet

392
00:42:17,180 --> 00:42:21,860
in the end. So just changing can let you do that. 

393
00:42:23,350 --> 00:42:27,069
Other colleagues: "Please use a microphone. It's not for you, 

394
00:42:27,070 --> 00:42:33,450
it's for the audience". Having people be an ally is so important, championing you and saying that. 

395
00:42:34,330 --> 00:42:39,580
"Please tell us your experience, tell us what you need so we can understand and learn". 

396
00:42:39,790 --> 00:42:43,300
And that is a tip for all of us. We all have something to learn. 

397
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:47,290
So just asking what do people need. It will be different - 

398
00:42:47,290 --> 00:42:50,950
let's forget about stereotypes, asking what that individual needs. 

399
00:42:52,050 --> 00:42:55,860
HR: "What support do you need? Let us know and we will put it in place for you". 

400
00:42:56,070 --> 00:43:06,000
That can be very workplace specific. But there are good lovely people in HR and our disability support team that really listen and do it. 

401
00:43:06,450 --> 00:43:12,570
And this is a massive shout out to the National Association of Disabled Staff Networks, which I found at Manchester, 

402
00:43:12,850 --> 00:43:17,940
who have always gone, "We're here for you", and just listened. 

403
00:43:18,540 --> 00:43:23,400
So we can - you know, if we've had a bad day and things have got tough, talking to each other and listening and just being there. 

404
00:43:23,580 --> 00:43:27,180
Not necessarily having a solution, but just listening is so important. 

405
00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:32,490
OK. I'm sorry, I'm going put you on the spot. 

406
00:43:32,510 --> 00:43:38,000
I should have asked you this earlier. Can I ask you, what you think makes a good researcher, please?

407
00:43:38,300 --> 00:43:42,240
TS >>  You're asking me?  JB >> Yes please. Sorry. 

408
00:43:42,450 --> 00:43:47,400
I should have prepared you for this, but could you tell me you think what makes a good researcher? 

409
00:43:49,230 --> 00:43:52,590
TS >>  A good researcher asks good questions. JB >> Yes. 

410
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:57,030
MODERATOR >> You'll have to - I'm going to repeat what Tim says because - for the recording. 

411
00:43:57,330 --> 00:44:00,420
So a good - could you come up here? JB >> Please Tim. 

412
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,500
Sorry. I should have prepared you for this. TS >> This is unstaged! JS >> Thank you. 

413
00:44:06,030 --> 00:44:11,910
Thank you. TS >> This is all very spontaneous. I think a good researcher asks good questions,

414
00:44:12,510 --> 00:44:19,470
is prepared to try new things, new methods to innovate and hopefully they find the right answers. 

415
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:23,030
JS >> Perfect. Thank you very much. That is great. 

416
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:28,690
Perfect, yeah. That is completely true. 

417
00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:32,260
That is exactly what we need from a good researcher, definitely. 

418
00:44:32,950 --> 00:44:36,790
Can we have a hands up in the room please. Who thinks that that is all you should 

419
00:44:36,790 --> 00:44:42,650
need to be a good researcher? Passion, asking the right questions, et cetera? 

420
00:44:42,670 --> 00:44:48,850
It's not a trick question, I promise. Who thinks that that's all you should need in an ideal world, 

421
00:44:48,970 --> 00:44:54,400
that's all that should matter, right? I think that. Yeah, ok. 

422
00:44:55,150 --> 00:45:00,870
Couple of people, OK. I think you've predicted that here are some unspoken requirements, though. 

423
00:45:01,690 --> 00:45:06,700
Yes, perfect. Because that is all that should be required. 

424
00:45:07,060 --> 00:45:12,490
But at the moment the system needs changing, and I think we would all agree with that. 

425
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:20,110
So at the moment here are some unspoken requirements and I am going to read out the list of what I think are the unspoken requirements 

426
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:23,950
and I want you to just think if they resonate with you as well. 

427
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:37,330
"Is mobile, Can lift heavy equipment, Can reach the lab bench, Has 20/20 vision, Has supersonic hearing, 

428
00:45:38,330 --> 00:45:42,530
Has effective communication skills (the conventional ones) - 

429
00:45:44,630 --> 00:45:48,380
you'll see why I've put that in there later, Can walk up steps, 

430
00:45:49,240 --> 00:45:57,290
Doesn't need quiet space, Can sit for extended periods of time, Can take notes quickly, 

431
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:03,440
Has a great short term memory, Doesn't need to use the toilet, 

432
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:10,340
Has no other external responsibilities - no caring, no children, no partner, 

433
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:17,670
Can cope with tight deadlines, Has endless energy, Can work in a group, 

434
00:46:18,990 --> 00:46:23,380
Doesn't need to take time off, You can change topic easily, 

435
00:46:23,830 --> 00:46:31,650
if there's a new funding thing you can just change topic like that, Can travel easily - can travel internationally easily, 

436
00:46:32,610 --> 00:46:37,530
Can think all of the time, Can keep quiet when appropriate 

437
00:46:39,690 --> 00:46:42,780
(I struggle with that one), Is a native speaker, 

438
00:46:44,140 --> 00:46:50,790
Has no dietary requirements, medication needs, or adjustments, and 

439
00:46:50,980 --> 00:46:54,520
(risqué one) Is white, male and from Oxbridge".  

440
00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:59,320
So, which ones do I struggle with? 

441
00:46:59,650 --> 00:47:08,440
So some of these, I think, probably all of you probably looked at that and went, "Actually, I really struggle with one of them". 

442
00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:14,410
And some of you might be sat here feeling like "Oh, I don't consider myself disabled", 

443
00:47:14,950 --> 00:47:20,500
and this is a point that accessibility is not just for disabled people. It's for everybody. 

444
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:24,760
If we changed all of these things, I think we'd all be a lot happier. 

445
00:47:25,090 --> 00:47:28,720
So accessibility is really important because it does benefit everyone.

446
00:47:29,860 --> 00:47:33,280
So there's a lot of these that I struggle with. I can't lift heavy equipment. 

447
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:38,670
I can't reach the lab bench. I can now that I've changed it all. 

448
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:45,040
But my previous lab was for someone who was 6 foot and above so I couldn't reach the lab bench. 

449
00:47:45,700 --> 00:47:52,170
Obviously, I don't have supersonic hearing, but lipreading is pretty useful. 

450
00:47:53,020 --> 00:47:56,860
And I can communicate, but not necessarily conventionally. 

451
00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:00,760
I might need you to go slower for me, change the pace. 

452
00:48:01,660 --> 00:48:03,960
Sometimes I might want to do it in sign language. 

453
00:48:03,970 --> 00:48:13,690
I need sign language interpretation, and I'm starting to need that more and more at conferences as well. So I can communicate well,

454
00:48:13,780 --> 00:48:17,770
but not maybe in the conventional ones that is needed in an academic environment. 

455
00:48:18,310 --> 00:48:25,390
I definitely can't take notes quickly. You should try lipreading, watching an interpreter and taking notes.  It's just not possible. 

456
00:48:25,570 --> 00:48:32,800
It does get you out of taking minutes. So. "Has endless energy". 

457
00:48:33,580 --> 00:48:39,760
I probably look energetic, but after a day of lipreading and interpreting and listening, 

458
00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:44,740
I am not, and I can be very grumpy. Then I can't work in a group. 

459
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:49,149
And also if I am working in a group, I need that to be effective communication, for example.

460
00:48:49,150 --> 00:48:55,540
"Can travel easily" is getting more and more difficult now. Because when I fly, 

461
00:48:56,380 --> 00:49:02,170
I lose my hearing for about a week, which is really annoying when I go to a conference. 

462
00:49:02,470 --> 00:49:09,810
So travelling with long flights is now getting harder, and I need to change and have access for that. 

463
00:49:09,850 --> 00:49:18,610
So that's getting harder and harder. Obviously I need adjustments. And I have noted that although I am not male, I do know - 

464
00:49:19,030 --> 00:49:25,540
I'm white and from Oxbridge. And I think it's also important to notice the privileges that we have and recognise that as well, 

465
00:49:26,140 --> 00:49:29,760
that we need to listen to a range of diverse ideas. 

466
00:49:29,770 --> 00:49:32,320
My experience will be different to somebody else's. 

467
00:49:32,890 --> 00:49:39,220
So it's important to recognise that in yourself as well and also get that range of diverse experiences. 

468
00:49:40,430 --> 00:49:46,090
And all of these unspoken requirements, this is a shout out to Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh. 

469
00:49:46,580 --> 00:49:54,800
So please please please, if you can, there's a book, and I will write down this citation and give it across, 

470
00:49:55,190 --> 00:50:03,970
so it's a book called Ableism in Academia: Where are the Disabled and Ill Academics? And it's a really really fantastic book.  

471
00:50:03,980 --> 00:50:07,970
And if you would like it, I think it's also available Open Access as well. 

472
00:50:08,390 --> 00:50:14,690
So really really good to check out. And that talks about this unspoken requirements that I kind of summarised here. 

473
00:50:15,590 --> 00:50:20,360
What are we doing about it? What's already in place in higher education?

474
00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:25,970
We already have current charter marks. (Oh! Thank you! It is open source, 

475
00:50:25,980 --> 00:50:29,120
I have had confirmation. It is open source, so please do read it.)  

476
00:50:29,660 --> 00:50:34,640
So what we have already got is a lot of current charter marks. I have some of their logos here. 

477
00:50:34,650 --> 00:50:37,940
There's Athena Swan, Race Equality, Stonewall. 

478
00:50:38,390 --> 00:50:42,530
But when we come to disability, something specific to higher education is missing. 

479
00:50:43,100 --> 00:50:49,550
We do have some things: I've got the logo here for Disability Confident Employer, Business Disability Forum, 

480
00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:54,080
Time to Change for mental health discrimination, and Access to Work. 

481
00:50:54,230 --> 00:50:57,440
But there's nothing really that looks at higher education and research. 

482
00:50:58,660 --> 00:51:05,260
And there are groups trying to champion this. And I've put some logos up now, and I'm going to talk about some of them.

483
00:51:05,260 --> 00:51:10,480
So NADSN I've mentioned a couple of times, which is the National Association of Disabled Staff Networks. 

484
00:51:11,050 --> 00:51:20,170
It's led by the fantastic Dr Hamied Haroon, who is a wonderful person and an amazing advocate. 

485
00:51:20,620 --> 00:51:24,010
He's really leading that 

486
00:51:24,370 --> 00:51:29,800
and he started it and founded it. And it's a group nationally of disabled staff networks that support each other. 

487
00:51:30,940 --> 00:51:39,280
Chronically Academic as well, specifically focusing on academics, again offering their support. The EDIS Symposium as well, 

488
00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:49,720
again looking at issues in academia. Academic Mental Health Collective. The American Astronomical Society Accessibility and Disability. 

489
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:57,490
America is way ahead of the UK. We need to catch up. They're really on best practice in accessibility. 

490
00:51:57,700 --> 00:52:02,410
There's lots of resources and the UK needs to listen and pay attention and get on it. 

491
00:52:02,860 --> 00:52:08,229
And Wellcome Trust. So there are people working on this. And I'm going to summarise just a couple of 

492
00:52:08,230 --> 00:52:12,700
projects. And all this information I'm happy to give people afterwards as well.

493
00:52:13,330 --> 00:52:21,489
Specifically for science careers, which is passionate for me, the lovely Professor Gareth Pender and Professor Kate Sang at Heriot Watt

494
00:52:21,490 --> 00:52:26,050
are working on the Disability Inclusive Science Careers Project. 

495
00:52:26,830 --> 00:52:33,370
This project has asked people working in STEMM "What challenges are you facing?", to get that data there. 

496
00:52:34,030 --> 00:52:39,790
And I've pulled out one quote which is "It's like having a second job". 

497
00:52:40,710 --> 00:52:45,750
Quite damning. The amount of workload is like having a second job. 

498
00:52:47,740 --> 00:52:51,430
There's also a lot of work going on with BSL. 

499
00:52:52,300 --> 00:52:59,770
We've had some fantastic BSL interpreters today, who have coped perfectly with the science signs. 

500
00:53:01,110 --> 00:53:09,570
But science signs is difficult, especially when you're creating new terms like "topological insulators". There is a group 

501
00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:10,740
(I know, it's difficult!), 

502
00:53:11,490 --> 00:53:20,580
but there's a group called the Scottish Sensory Centre, who are developing a BSL glossary. It is really fantastic work by Audrey Cameron, 

503
00:53:20,580 --> 00:53:27,480
Gary Quinn, Rachel O'Neill and Sheila Mackenzie. Please do check that out afterwards. 

504
00:53:27,510 --> 00:53:33,990
This is something I'm quite passionate about: there are people making sure that everyone can contribute in STEMM in academia.  

505
00:53:35,430 --> 00:53:39,600
And also Tigers in STEMM. We do have some travelling Tigers in the room. 

506
00:53:39,870 --> 00:53:44,600
So Tigers in STEMM as well don't just look at disability, 

507
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:48,660
look at all aspects of diversity, and have worked to create reports. 

508
00:53:48,870 --> 00:53:57,780
And there was one specifically on disability, called Accessibility in STEMM: Barriers Facing Disabled Individuals in Research Funding Processes. 

509
00:53:58,230 --> 00:54:03,420
This used lived experiences from the community, through NADSN, to pull together the issues

510
00:54:03,420 --> 00:54:07,950
specifically on research funding and put recommendations towards those research councils. 

511
00:54:08,730 --> 00:54:18,570
But some of the really interesting facts that came out from that was, disabled researchers in STEMM fall, from 40% from undergraduate to postgrad. 

512
00:54:18,930 --> 00:54:28,500
So there's a drop off of 40%. And when we start looking at academics, from HESA data, there's only 4% of us that are disabled. 

513
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:35,190
And that's also all disabilities across all academia, not just STEMM as well. 

514
00:54:35,730 --> 00:54:44,430
So there's a lot of work that really needs to be done. And I am not surprised at that drop off. Because the drop off in access is a major thing. 

515
00:54:44,850 --> 00:54:52,400
As students at undergrad, there's quite a bit of support there, probably because you need our tuition fees. 

516
00:54:52,410 --> 00:54:56,010
I'm very sorry to say that, but there is a focus on that. 

517
00:54:56,430 --> 00:55:06,140
And when you start to become a PhD student, mmm, it's not so much economic financial incentive to support any more. 

518
00:55:06,420 --> 00:55:10,500
And when you get to staff, again, it's a different kettle of fish, if you like. 

519
00:55:11,670 --> 00:55:16,080
It's a different scenario, it's now funding from government, etc.

520
00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:23,220
So the support drops off. And that's one of the reasons I think that we have this leaky pipeline. 

521
00:55:24,930 --> 00:55:30,360
So, there is also a recommendation project from NADSN that I'm involved in.

522
00:55:30,540 --> 00:55:35,340
And there's loads of people within this organisation and STEMM action group. 

523
00:55:35,850 --> 00:55:44,700
This particular recommendation project, there was a document that was led by Hamied, Julia Sarju in York, Jennifer Leigh in Kent 

524
00:55:44,700 --> 00:55:52,379
and Yota Dimitriadi in Reading. And this is again lived experiences, trying to 

525
00:55:52,380 --> 00:55:57,450
come together and recommend how we can go forwards with research councils and barriers, 

526
00:55:57,630 --> 00:56:03,150
and it's all based on lived experiences. So this is a call out to people online and in the room.

527
00:56:03,720 --> 00:56:09,740
Please, get in touch if you would like to contribute to this. It's asking you, what do you think about research, 

528
00:56:09,750 --> 00:56:14,370
what are the barriers, and what recommendations would you like to see, based on your experiences.

529
00:56:16,390 --> 00:56:25,300
So if I said a quick three things that we could do to help, is again, smaller, faster and smarter. 

530
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:31,390
Let's reduce that workload, that feeling of having to have a second job. 

531
00:56:31,660 --> 00:56:40,000
That's so important. How people get that access, so that we reduce that workload so people can contribute and focus on being amazing, 

532
00:56:40,270 --> 00:56:49,060
doing cool research, contributing to society and economic - and the economy. Faster - get that quicker support in place. 

533
00:56:49,790 --> 00:56:53,380
I would challenge that we shouldn't have to ask for it, it should already be there. 

534
00:56:53,740 --> 00:56:56,920
And that was one of the fantastic things about this event.

535
00:56:57,460 --> 00:56:58,990
On the invitation I got,

536
00:56:59,440 --> 00:57:09,010
it had already said about BSL interpretation and captioning, and I wasn't going to say no then, because it was there and it was in place. 

537
00:57:09,220 --> 00:57:16,130
But that is really, really best practice, and it's not everywhere. So have that access so we don't even have to ask, 

538
00:57:16,150 --> 00:57:19,389
it's already there. And let's be smart about it. 

539
00:57:19,390 --> 00:57:22,630
Let's learn from each other and let's share best practice. 

540
00:57:23,410 --> 00:57:26,710
While we do that, let's celebrate disabled people. 

541
00:57:27,370 --> 00:57:36,339
And here I've got a logo of the organisation called Purple Space, and an advert for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 

542
00:57:36,340 --> 00:57:37,750
which is the 3rd of December. 

543
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:47,510
So for this, this is a campaign to light up everything purple which is the colour of disability, to really celebrate disabled people. 

544
00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:53,600
Now I don't know if we do this at Oxford. And maybe this is something you can help with. Of a purple light up. 

545
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:58,960
We recently started it, thanks to Kathy Bradley and the Disabled Staff Network at Manchester, 

546
00:57:59,040 --> 00:58:03,290
we lit up Manchester the past two years to really show this. 

547
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:08,870
So that's something we can do, 3rd of December, all of us really celebrate people with disabilities. 

548
00:58:10,140 --> 00:58:16,530
The Royal Society have also recognised it's important to have role models, to make people feel included 

549
00:58:16,950 --> 00:58:20,519
and make sure that we can see people succeeding 

550
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:24,210
and there isn't those barriers, and Hamied's on this as well, 

551
00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:33,720
and the lovely Daisy Shearer as well. So, celebrating scientists with disabilities, advocating for this, highlighting people in your organisation, 

552
00:58:35,260 --> 00:58:39,610
really showing it off. And inclusivity is important 

553
00:58:39,970 --> 00:58:43,510
and I just want to show you why. On this slide 

554
00:58:43,510 --> 00:58:49,870
I've got an example that was taken from a lecture slide. You can ask me why this is a picture later. 

555
00:58:49,930 --> 00:58:53,480
It was a topic of electronic materials. It doesn't look anything like that. 

556
00:58:53,500 --> 00:58:57,490
What it is, is loads of different students sat on seats. 

557
00:58:58,750 --> 00:59:02,710
And if you look at the different students, hopefully you will see diversity there. 

558
00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:12,070
There are students of different gender, of different ethnicity and different age. And also a giraffe for fun because it's my favourite animal. 

559
00:59:12,700 --> 00:59:18,150
But even something as simple as that can make people feel included. 

560
00:59:18,510 --> 00:59:26,280
People need to see themselves represented. And the reason inclusivity is important is because we want people to succeed. 

561
00:59:27,410 --> 00:59:32,840
These are two quotes from the surveys in this that I - really meant a lot to me. 

562
00:59:33,770 --> 00:59:43,670
The first one is:  "As a disabled person (with a physical disability), the use of sign language made me feel more seen and able to be an engineer".

563
00:59:44,910 --> 00:59:51,680
We have a shortage of engineers in the UK. We need to let people succeed. 

564
00:59:51,860 --> 00:59:56,210
And this second one is really showing that accessibility benefits everyone. 

565
00:59:57,480 --> 01:00:01,730
So the second quote - I'll just wait sorry, we had a motorbike so you couldn't hear me. 

566
01:00:02,270 --> 01:00:12,090
So the second quote is "The incorporation of sign language was really helpful, as a kinaesthetic learner

567
01:00:12,390 --> 01:00:16,620
putting actions to key words and topics helped me to remember them more".

568
01:00:17,820 --> 01:00:23,390
So accessibility is great. It doesn't just help disabled people. It will help everyone - 

569
01:00:23,400 --> 01:00:29,720
so let's do it. What can we do? Some ideas to take away from this. 

570
01:00:30,380 --> 01:00:35,209
You can start a reading club. Start by reading Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh's 

571
01:00:35,210 --> 01:00:38,600
Ableism in Academia. Learn, speak to people, 

572
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:42,170
get training as well. We don't all know the answers. 

573
01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:47,210
There's a lot of guides out there for good practice, try and find them and have a look, 

574
01:00:47,420 --> 01:00:51,500
and also if something has worked well for you, discuss it with the community and share. 

575
01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:57,090
Try and ask ourselves as well if we're providing equal access to all. 

576
01:00:57,640 --> 01:01:05,290
Could someone enter your lab, could someone enter your lecture theatre and not have to ask for anything? 

577
01:01:05,590 --> 01:01:09,790
Is it accessible from the start? That's the standard that we need. 

578
01:01:10,090 --> 01:01:14,080
It's not about minimum standards. We need to go beyond minimum standards, 

579
01:01:14,290 --> 01:01:20,470
and that's how you're going to get inclusion. So can someone turn up and it's already accessible for them? 

580
01:01:20,590 --> 01:01:25,530
And that's the social model of disability. It's okay to make mistakes. 

581
01:01:26,280 --> 01:01:29,280
I have made several mistakes and am constantly learning. 

582
01:01:30,230 --> 01:01:34,310
And that's the point, that you can get it wrong, but you need to learn from them. 

583
01:01:34,640 --> 01:01:39,990
So it's okay, and if you're unsure, ask. Learn from someone's lived experience. 

584
01:01:40,010 --> 01:01:44,030
Just ask people and they'll be happy to tell you and you can learn from that. 

585
01:01:45,450 --> 01:01:51,100
And this is my final slide and my final word. This is quite a common picture that you may have seen before. 

586
01:01:51,120 --> 01:01:55,440
It's a poster that's demonstrating equality versus equity. 

587
01:01:56,310 --> 01:02:06,390
So for equality we have three people of different sizes and they're all stood on the same box. And they're looking over at... oh, is this baseball? 

588
01:02:06,420 --> 01:02:12,180
Is this baseball, yeah? A baseball game. I don't do sport. I was going to say football. 

589
01:02:12,180 --> 01:02:17,850
I'm glad I didn't say that. A baseball game. Ok. So they're trying to look over the fence at a baseball game. 

590
01:02:19,140 --> 01:02:23,000
Obviously the tallest person that's standing on the box, he's having a great time, 

591
01:02:23,020 --> 01:02:30,200
he can see all of the game. The person who's medium height is holding on to the top of the fence. 

592
01:02:30,210 --> 01:02:33,870
They can just about see but it's hard, they have to be on their tiptoes to look. 

593
01:02:34,530 --> 01:02:37,920
And then the smallest person can't see anything at all. 

594
01:02:38,970 --> 01:02:45,060
We've given them all the same thing, so it's equal, but obviously they cannot access it in the same way. 

595
01:02:45,810 --> 01:02:49,380
On the other side we have equity, the same three people. 

596
01:02:49,920 --> 01:02:53,520
Now the tallest person, he doesn't need a box so we'll take that away. 

597
01:02:54,740 --> 01:03:00,580
For the medium person he's got his one box he's happy, and the person that can't see we've given two boxes, 

598
01:03:00,830 --> 01:03:05,480
so they can now see. That's equity. They can all see the baseball game. 

599
01:03:05,960 --> 01:03:10,700
So when we're thinking about accessibility, we're going for equity not equality. 

600
01:03:11,270 --> 01:03:17,900
And that's my final thing to say and thank you for bearing with me and listening to me for so long. 

601
01:03:18,110 --> 01:03:18,590
Thank you.