Beems Brealey

Hello!!!

I’m Beems, an autistic bean studying Mathematics with Statistics in my second year. I have extensive experience in voluntary work. I’ve been a mentor for students with learning differences in my secondary school where I helped design their new department along with a sensory room, have looked after many online communities for vulnerable people since the age of 13. I am currently Disabilities Officer for SUSU and Welfare Officer for Neurodiversity and Disability Society, where I am passionate about standing up for all students with any conditions. Aside from being a figure that can put pressure on university services to provide accommodations, and just being a person one can generally talk to, I’m currently working on a campaign to improve toilet accessibility across the campus and raise awareness of adjustments that the university and the union needs to put in place across their events, such as quiet hours or much more adaptable workshops. I’m also currently working with our lovely current VP Welfare Aycha to enhance our new Welfare Room with tactile walls, and to organize workshops for disability and neurodiversity.

I’m taking my current work to the next level plus more! Working off Aycha’s excellence this year, I have devised a plan to make Disability History Month even better than it was last year, to truly show the Disability Confidence of not only our university but our community as well! I will work with both SUSU and the University to revamp their reporting and complaints system, to make them more robust and more clear in how to use them, how to report teachers as well as students, and how your information is used. Something I’m extremely passionate about is making sure that students at our university have a safe and sensible places to live, no matter what their background or traits are - I will work alongside SUSU Lettings to find and provide housing appropriate for students with any kind of need, filling an enormous gap in Southampton’s student housing market. Also, I will work closely with the University’s accomodation team to provide much more appropriate housing adjustments than are currently given out to students who need and deserve to live comfortably and safely. I will make moves to review accessibility for all campuses at the University of Southampton and put in much more appropriate signage and will get the university to significantly improve their building information available online. I will strive to fill in the gaps where many WSA students feel very left out by both the university and the Student Union and shall continue current pressures to provide much more connection both physically and socially between Winchester and other campuses.

Volunteering to help people is something I am extremely passionate about. It’s something I’ve stuck my teeth into for years, and I am not afraid to stand up for students from all backgrounds. Vote for me and I promise that I will do all I can to listen to every student that wants to be heard.