Our Disabled Educators Officer is Janine Booth.

Janine's contact email is: janine.booth@neu.org.uk

Election Statement

WHAT I BELIEVE
Disabled educators face barriers and discrimination at work.

Whether our impairments are physical, mental or sensory, whether they are obvious or not, disabled educators need and deserve better working conditions.

Applying the social model of disability, our job is to demand that employers and the government remove these barriers and stop discrimination.

WHAT I WOULD DO IN THIS POST

· offer support to all NEU reps in the District in representing individual disabled members

· encourage and support reps in raising demands to reduce discrimination in schools

· make sure that all reps and interested members have access to NEU’s excellent materials on disability (https://neu.org.uk/advice/equality/disability-equality/disability-equality-toolkit), and that they are used in every school and education setting

· produce a ‘know your rights’ guide for disabled educators

· provide information and training for reps about disability

· organise regular online meetings for disabled members, reps and allies

· organise at least one in-person event

· involve the District in campaigns on political issues that affect disabled members, eg. government attacks on sickness and disability benefits

· arrange participation in Disability History Month

· make the District’s meetings, events, online presence and other activities as accessible and inclusive as possible

· report regularly on progress with this plan

WHO I AM

I teach trade unionists, including working as a tutor for the GMB union in Leicester.

I also create and deliver training about disability and neurodiversity, for trade unions and other organisations.

WHAT I’VE DONE

· delegate to TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference on several occasions

· served on TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee, including three years as co-Chair

· founding Chair, then Secretary, of RMT Disabled Members’ Advisory Committee

· author of the book Autism Equality in the Workplace: removing barriers and challenging discrimination (JKP, 2016)

· founding chair of Neurodivergent Labour

· author of the TUC’s handbook for union reps about autism in the workplace.