Trinity Ability Co_op receive €4,800 from the Trinity Trust Special Fund

The Trinity Ability Co_op is a co-operative movement by students with disabilities in College who work towards making Trinity an inclusive environment for students with disabilities

The Trinity Ability Co_op announced earlier today that the organisation has been chosen as one of the groups to receive the Trinity Trust Special Fund

The Trinity Ability Co_op is a co-operative movement by students with disabilities in College who work towards making Trinity an inclusive environment for students with disabilities. 

On 27 November 2020, The Trinity College Trust invited applications from student groups for grants from a special fund of €100,000 to “support student life during the pandemic”.

The Trinity Ability Co_op has received €4,800 in funding from the Trinity Trust Special Fund to assist in working towards making Trinity Clubs and Societies inclusive to students with disabilities. 

The Ability Co_op released a statement earlier today which provided details on what this means for the organisation. 

The statement included quotes from students with disabilities on their experiences with Trinity clubs and societies, saying “most are unwilling and unresponsive to disabled voices talking about their concerns and are seen as a nuisance” and “disability makes it very hard to approach societies”.

The co-operative movement said in their announcement: “As increasing numbers of students with disabilities pursue educational options at Trinity, it becomes even more important that Clubs and Societies are inclusive and accessible to everyone.”

They also stated that this grant will allow them to achieve their goal of equal access and inclusion, and listed some other goals.

Among their objectives is the creation of a checklist for making student organisations “welcoming and accessible”, with the hopes of also identifying some of the issues of accessibility and inclusion that may exist within clubs and societies.

The organisation also plans to develop accessibility guidelines for clubs and societies as well as disability awareness training that will be designed to support the role of the proposed inclusivity checklist and guidelines. 

TCD Education Officer Megan O’Connor welcomed the announcement, saying: “I am so delighted to see the Trinity Ability Co_op receiving funds from the Trinity Trust Special Fund to further their work towards ensuring Clubs and Societies are more accessible for students with disabilities.”

She continued: “There are so many aspects of ‘college life’ that we take for granted but remain inaccessible to many others be that, nightlife centred socialising or events in inaccessible locations. So I think the allocation of this fund for this purpose is both well-timed and well needed.” 

Bonnie Gill

Bonnie Gill is current News Analysis Editor for Trinity News and previously served as the College Correspondent. She is a Senior Sophister Film Studies and English Literature student.