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I love the union, but unfortunately like the rest of the world, it just isn’t built for disabled and

neurodivergent people. Union events aren’t transparent and their accessibility isn’t clear;

we’re asked to give any needed accessibility arrangements when we don’t even know what

the activity entails.

I am Rose Arcos, a 2nd year Politics student with ADHD and dyslexia, and I understand these

struggles first hand. I’ve found it really hard to navigate uni with a brain that it just wasn’t

built for. I would love to represent my disabled/neurodivergent community, channel my

struggles into productive solutions and do the hard work to create real initiatives designed

especially by and for us.

There are simple but evolutionary steps the union can take to drastically improve

accessibility and inclusion - proving transparency, clarity and communication is a vital start.

It will tackle the mental load involved in taking part and boost your confidence to participate.

1. Transparent Activities and Accessibility

I will ensure that easy to read information PDFs are created and distributed in advance for every union/society event. This would be a huge benefit for all disabled or neurodivergent people but also any anxious fresher or person who likes to plan; it benefits everyone.

I discovered these at protests, they’re distributed online before the protest is held and ensure that all attendees know exactly what to expect and what accessibility arrangements are in place. Additionally, they may highlight areas the organisers have not considered thus giving them time for this to be highlighted and fixed to achieve maximum inclusion and accessibility.

This would be so easy to implement within the union; I’d create a template for societies and union organisers to use, provide training on how to do it and enable these to be uploaded to engage. Most activities are the same each week thus it would most likely be a one time job at the start of the year with any adjustments made accordingly. An incredibly simple step that would transform disabled and neurodivergent students' ability to participate by providing the information they need to know an activity if for them.

2. Proactive and Prepared Accomadations

I will ensure specific adjustments are organised and ready to go from the start, so removing the need for individuals to self-advocate and design their own. Right now whenever you go to a union event, they ask you to put in any accessibility adjustments you may need. Similarly societies often ask you to message them with any additional requirements. Whilst the intention of inclusion is there, this is not overly helpful or complete. It places an additional mental load on disabled and neurodivergent students, and it's a very hard task to do when you don’t know what may be needed or what is possible for the organisers to do. Instead, I will remove this mental load from the individuals and empower organisers to provide options for adjustments proactively. Through education, training and blue-print plans designed by myself and the union, organisers will be able to organise adjustments as part of their planning, offer these options to all participants, and then provide it accordingly. This removes the mental load from the individual and ensures them that these adjustments will be possible whilst also preventing any last minute stress from organisers to fit the needs of their attendees. This initiative goes hand in hand with the previous one, and together they will maximise accessibility and inclusion by decreasing the mental tax, remove any false promises of adjustments and enable individuals to participate in confidence.

3. Active community engagement

Frequent discussions, drop ins and initiatives to facilitate support, celebration and change. The experience of disability is different for every individual and is often constantly changing. I will be completely committed to hearing, understanding and uplifting all voices and experiences within our disabled and neurodivergent community. Through weekly drop ins and monthly discussions, I will nurture conversation and ensure I’m fully informed with the real experiences in our union so I can truly represent our community and fight for what matters most to its members. Additionally, I will organise further initiatives to advance awareness around key issues in university life and to celebrate our incredible community. It’s important to not just focus on our struggles but all the joy, resilience and creativity our community has too. I strive to keep this at the centre of my work and be driven by my love for the union and our community, not resentment and hatred.

Outside of this role, here is a little more about me…

- I am Welfare and Inclusion Officer for LUU Handball - I started this sport at university and have loved learning and improving my handball skills across the past two years. I’ve been working towards our SASHA accreditation, started our anonymous welfare form system and hosted our first ever official sober social

- I directed Musical Theatre’s ‘Urinetown’ last term, my proudest university achievement! It was a musical satire about pee, politics and all the things that make musical theatre so brilliantly ridiculous. I managed a team of over 40 people from cast to prod team backstage, and we all created a super fun production

- I started and run a social netball team for all the theatre societies of Leeds #showbibz

- I absolutely love to dance, whether it's in a club or a studio or on stage it’s when I feel

most grounded and free!

Thank you so much for reading my statement and please pick this Rose to be your disabled

and neurodivergent engagement leader

Why me?

I want to be your Disabled and Neurodivergent Liberation Engagement Leader because I CARE. I care about my community and I want disabled and neurodivergent people like me - and those with completely different needs to myself - to be heard, so that we can be truly included, valued and respected. And I want to listen to you.

Access comes first.

I am a long-time disability activist as well as a disabled and neurodivergent student myself; I am also a wheelchair user with high access needs and know all too well how often my community gets left behind. I have been the Liberation Students Committee Disability Rep for two years now - so for two years, I have listened to my fellow students and put in extensive community-building hours; run campaigns; advocated and fought tirelessly for our needs; worked to improve facilities on campus including trying to get the Liberation Hub designated as a sensory room and having a stash of spare mobility aids there for those who need them; and begun fortnightly Peer Disability Drop-Ins for anyone on campus to engage with.

This means I know the needs of the disabled and neurodivergent student community really well, and I have the skill set to advocate, fight for, and provide for them! I know I would do a fantastic job as the Disabled and Neurodivergent Liberation Engagement Leader; and I would love the chance to keep listening, learning, and fighting. Key to my approach is the undeniable fact that our struggles as marginalised groups may be unique, but they are interconnected - we are not free until we are all free, and so we must work together, support each other, and build community. Let me help facilitate the changes that we need.

What can you expect?

When it comes to University - much like the rest of society - disabled and neurodivergent people are systematically excluded. Those of us with high access needs are constantly left out and left behind. Mental illness is undermined and scapegoated. Those of us with invisible illnesses are ignored and not believed. The entire university experience is a neurodivergent nightmare - just look at the mitigating circumstances system. And rather than being supported, we are scrutinised, humiliated, and pushed out.

I myself have been asked to drop out. I have arrived at classrooms, and realised I cannot even enter the classes of my course that I am paying NINE GRAND A YEAR FOR. Access must be made a priority. Access benefits EVERYONE, but it needs to be for us, and by us.

This university is not built for us, but it belongs to us too. So let's make it ours.

As your Disabled and Neurodivergent Liberation Engagement Leader, I would push for true access. This looks like the university actually listening to its disabled and neurodivergent students, and consulting us at every stage of decision-making - beyond the Disability Panel, which when I was on it, didn't even have hybrid meetings. I would implement regular informal feedback opportunities.

I would push to make sure each student is able to attend and engage with each of their classes - that means actually being able to physically enter the room with their mobility needs (looking at you, narrow doorways, chairs and stairs) which I would achieve by consulting students on which classrooms and buildings are most accessible, and implementing a blueprint for the layout of classrooms based on student feedback that I am acquiring as the current LSC Disability Rep. I will also advocate for, and create feasible logistics for, having the option for hybrid learning - this could include creating flexible student part time job opportunities to set up the software in classes.

I would push for more quiet, sensory-safe places on campus and consideration for neurodiverse students in shared work spaces - even something as simple as small room dividers in the library, and easy access to less harsh lighting and noise-cancelling ear defenders or headphones that does not require having to go up and ask a stranger for it. It is ridiculous that there is not a sensory room on campus yet, either - which is why I am advocating for the Liberation Hub to be allocated as such, and for the Union to spend some of its funding on turning existing spaces into more accessible, sensory collective study-and-chill rooms.

I want to ensure activities and societies are accessible; I would love to provide access and disability-neurodivergent inclusivity training to LUU socs and facilitate more Uni-wide socials for students with access needs.

We deserve better. Through care, compassion, conviction, commitment, collaboration, and community; let me help us achieve it.

"Because I’ve been there — not just as someone with a disability, but as an international student navigating silence, stigma, and systems not built for us." I understand the fear of speaking up. The worry of being judged. The confusion of accessing support in a second language. I’m running to build a LUU where accessibility means more than ramps — where your mental health, your culture, and your voice are seen and supported. Let’s turn silence into strength, whether you come from the West or the East.