By Timothy Neill and Edited by Tom Guyton-Day
Credit: Joe Ciciarelli
When you think of the phrase “freshers' week” what comes to mind. Insanely good deals on drink and food for students during their opening week of first year, before their studies begin. A random selection of events organised by the University to try and sell the city, its nightlife, and attractions to the newly enrolled students - normally with some random “celebrity “guest. An overcrowded and hugely sweaty freshers fair normally taking place in some variety of gym hall with potentially hundreds of societies vying for student's attention. All these are relatively accurate descriptions for freshers as a concept in their own ways.
It cannot be ignored that certain people believe freshers a key point within University lifestyle. However, I am here to tell you that as a person with a physical disability a lot of these events are unappealing or downright inaccessible to those in a similar position. There is a lot more that could be done to make freshers more accessible and generally have a much broader appeal, beyond potentially wild parties and societies trying to stand out from the potentially hundreds that could exist at any University. Let's discuss.
It cannot be ignored that alcohol deals and drinking culture is a big part of what makes freshers appealing to a large percentage of its target audience. This is not to say for people with disabilities cannot have a drink. It is down to individual choice. That said, if a disabled student goes to University in a new city and wants to take advantage of the best freshers deals on offer, only to find the accessible features are not sufficient for their needs they will be out of luck. This could also be the case for those disabled students that have opted to stay home and may well know in advance if the various venues that have freshers deals on offer meet their access requirements.
If individual universities made sure that establishments met certain accessibility requirements, it would at least give the disabled students who want to be part of this experience the opportunity to do just that. However, since a lot of these offers are put on by the pub's, clubs, and restaurants, rather than the universities themselves - this may not be something that has crossed the management’s mind. They just want to see an increase in foot traffic from newly enrolled students.
The other key element of freshers as a university institution is the various fairs that take place, hypothetically allowing various societies and clubs at individual universities to showcase themselves with a potentially huge intake of newly arrived members. Regardless of disability this is not my experience. The best way to describe going to one of these events is, it's like suddenly encountering a massive wall of sound, where it's hard to decipher what elements you should be paying attention to or what extracurricular activities might hold some value for individual students.
From a disability point of view, it is even more frustrating because even if there's some potentially interesting stuff on offer, a lot of them or sport/physically oriented clubs are simply not an option (through no fault of their own). It can be an incredibly overwhelming experience. A more accessible approach might be to organise specific events for those who fall into specific accessibility brackets and enable those that run certain societies that might appeal to them the opportunity to showcase what they can offer. At the very least it has the potential to be a much less overwhelming experience
The point of this piece is not to paint freshers and its culture in an especially negative light. Tens of thousands of students get a huge amount of enjoyment from it every year and more power to them. That said there are definite steps that could be taken to make the broad concept a lot more accessible. Making sure every establishment with deals on offer has appropriate access to enable disabled students to experience the culture and potential benefits. Also, arranging specific fairs with societies and clubs that would be accessible to those with disabilities rather than plopping disabled students in the middle of a potentially hugely overwhelming environment with a number of potential things that will simply will not be accessible to them.
These two changes would go a long way towards making freshers as a concept a lot more accessible.
It cannot be ignored that certain people believe freshers a key point within University lifestyle. However, I am here to tell you that as a person with a physical disability a lot of these events are unappealing or downright inaccessible to those in a similar position. There is a lot more that could be done to make freshers more accessible and generally have a much broader appeal, beyond potentially wild parties and societies trying to stand out from the potentially hundreds that could exist at any University. Let's discuss.
It cannot be ignored that alcohol deals and drinking culture is a big part of what makes freshers appealing to a large percentage of its target audience. This is not to say for people with disabilities cannot have a drink. It is down to individual choice. That said, if a disabled student goes to University in a new city and wants to take advantage of the best freshers deals on offer, only to find the accessible features are not sufficient for their needs they will be out of luck. This could also be the case for those disabled students that have opted to stay home and may well know in advance if the various venues that have freshers deals on offer meet their access requirements.
If individual universities made sure that establishments met certain accessibility requirements, it would at least give the disabled students who want to be part of this experience the opportunity to do just that. However, since a lot of these offers are put on by the pub's, clubs, and restaurants, rather than the universities themselves - this may not be something that has crossed the management’s mind. They just want to see an increase in foot traffic from newly enrolled students.
The other key element of freshers as a university institution is the various fairs that take place, hypothetically allowing various societies and clubs at individual universities to showcase themselves with a potentially huge intake of newly arrived members. Regardless of disability this is not my experience. The best way to describe going to one of these events is, it's like suddenly encountering a massive wall of sound, where it's hard to decipher what elements you should be paying attention to or what extracurricular activities might hold some value for individual students.
From a disability point of view, it is even more frustrating because even if there's some potentially interesting stuff on offer, a lot of them or sport/physically oriented clubs are simply not an option (through no fault of their own). It can be an incredibly overwhelming experience. A more accessible approach might be to organise specific events for those who fall into specific accessibility brackets and enable those that run certain societies that might appeal to them the opportunity to showcase what they can offer. At the very least it has the potential to be a much less overwhelming experience
The point of this piece is not to paint freshers and its culture in an especially negative light. Tens of thousands of students get a huge amount of enjoyment from it every year and more power to them. That said there are definite steps that could be taken to make the broad concept a lot more accessible. Making sure every establishment with deals on offer has appropriate access to enable disabled students to experience the culture and potential benefits. Also, arranging specific fairs with societies and clubs that would be accessible to those with disabilities rather than plopping disabled students in the middle of a potentially hugely overwhelming environment with a number of potential things that will simply will not be accessible to them.
These two changes would go a long way towards making freshers as a concept a lot more accessible.
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