Ability for All aims to increase awareness of disabilities in general but more specifically in Higher Education. As continuing students and recent graduates, the Ability for All campaigners have seen, first hand, how and in what areas Higher Education institutions ‘fell down’ on issues pertaining to disability. We aim to create a community where such issues can be talked about openly and where disability issues are placed on the public agenda, discussed and addressed. Ability for All's principles are to educate through our events, enlighten the academic community by spreading awareness through our social media platforms and to empower through inspiring and creating discussions on disability. Rizwana, Fatma, Rhian, Hamda, Rumaisa, Farah
The Yay or Nay Project
The Yay or Nay Project aims to promote consent culture, whereby those who are abusive and violent are held accountable for their actions, and those who are harmed are believed and supported as they live through their experiences. This is the opposite of the current rape culture mechanisms of victim blaming, 'jokes', and myths that we are witnessing in society today. To do this we create a safe space on our social media platforms (@yayornayproject - Twitter and Instagram), where informative content is shared about topics surrounding consent and healthy relationships. Discussion and collaborations are also encouraged. We do not aim to speak on behalf of anyone because doing so marginalises voices which are already overlooked in our society. Every voice matters here, regardless of social factors such as a person's gender, race, religion, or disability status. It is only through having a collective voice that consent culture can come to be normalised. Amrit, Shona, Aman
Let’s Talk Melanin
Let’s Talk Melanin is a social campaign dedicated to challenging society’s beauty norms by celebrating body diversity among young Black women. Our campaign is two-fold. We use social media to share posts which celebrate different aspects of Black women’s lives i.e. their hair, skin tone, achievements, and culture. Additionally, our website is home to our blogs and campaign information. Secondly, we created our own mentoring programme with young Black girls at a Birmingham school. We held workshops and one- to-one mentoring sessions with the girls. During these sessions we discussed Black-related issues, reflected on their experiences, as well as helping them with their academic work. Through the feedback that we have received, we know our campaign is one of great importance. We want every Black women to know that she’s beautiful, she’s smart and she’s worthy of representation and respect. Kanisha, Rianna
No2Honour
The no2honour campaign emerged from our shared interest in raising awareness around the concept of honour in South Asian communities. It was important for us to make the distinction between honour as an ideology and an every-day concept and honour as a term and idea which is used solely to refer to honour-based abuse and forced marriage. Our aim is to convey messages of empowerment off the back of existing patriarchal norms and unspoken understandings of this term in communities where this concept is used to control women. A key component of this vision therefore took shape in our spoken word piece titled “I am not your honour”. The inspiration behind both the No2Honour campaign and the spoken word piece came from our lived experiences as well as an exploration of the tight grip which honour continues to exert as an ideology in South Asian and other communities. This required us to analyse the ways in which this concept has been used and has been perpetuated through generations of families. It also has required of us a level of self-reflection in order to pinpoint our aims and vision of how to combat honour-based abuse in general and more specifically in terms of practices such as forced marriage. Anousha, Shaila