{"id":444,"date":"2020-07-02T09:40:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T09:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/?page_id=444"},"modified":"2025-06-04T12:04:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T12:04:03","slug":"meet-the-committee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/meet-the-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

Jenny Cole, Co-Chair<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hello, my name is Jenny and I am a Co-Chair of the Staff Disability Network.\u202f <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been at Sheffield Hallam University for 12 years now and joined the Staff Disability Network Committee back in Spring 2022. \u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I joined the Staff Disability Network as I wanted to become more knowledgeable about how I can support the people I work with whom have any type of disabilities or long term health conditions here at Hallam.\u202f <\/span>\u00a0Due to all the contact I’ve had now with people in the network I have learnt so much about a wide range of disabilities and long term health conditions which supports my day job as a Senior Resourcing Adviser in HROD.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have personal experience of caring for a physically and mentally disabled parent, and through experiencing access difficulties that being a wheelchair brings, negotiating streets & buildings, drove me to want to ensure that I can support and drive change for those staff who have a disability or long term medical condition.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 Latterly I’ve had to learn a huge amount about Autism and ADHD for a family member which this amazing group of people have supported me through.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The Staff Disability Committee is a vibrant group of passionate and dedicated staff and I thoroughly enjoy being part of this team who want to drive change.\u00a0 \u00a0Please get in contact if you want to have an informal chat to find out how to get involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dr. Luke Beardon\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hi \u2013 my name is Luke (Beardon \u2013 but I don\u2019t like formalities) and I am beyond honoured to have been accepted to act as Co-Chair for the Staff Disability Network. Why me, you may ask? Well, I ask myself the same question! I am absolutely passionate about neurodivergence, autism in particular, with many personal and professional connections with the neurodivergent community; I am somewhat obsessed, and have been since I started working at SHU over 20 years ago, with our institute being the world\u2019s leading university both to work at and study for those individuals who might be considered as disabled. In my view, we still have some way to go to reach that goal.<\/p>\n

As part of my journey at SHU I have become more involved with others (I am the first to recognize that I don\u2019t always play well with others \u2013 but some of the folk here at SHU are a delight) and felt compelled to show my support for the amazing work they are doing in the field of staff disability, and when they asked if I might consider the Co-Chair position I was blown away \u2013 and accepted without hesitation.<\/p>\n

I have a lot to learn, and there is a lot to do, but I am an avid student of life and am willing to do what I can to support the network in whatever way I can. My interests include things in sets of three, the smell of my horse, and triathlons. Sorry \u2013 I also go off at tangents at inappropriate times \ud83d\ude0a. I am fully embedded in the notion that many of the disabling aspects of being human are the barriers that are set up by society, and that the solution to many of these issues is to change the environment \u2013 not the person.<\/p>\n

I also have a cat named Little Miss Squirrel. Just so you know.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Lynne Barker, Co-Chair\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Hello everyone, welcome to our Staff Disability Network Community. I\u2019m Lynne and was recently appointed as one of the Staff Disability Network\u2019s Co-Chairs. So, I\u2019m a newbie and still finding my feet but very much inspired by the passion of the other Co-Chairs and committee members. I started out at Hallam in 2006 as a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics, and have since progressed to Senior Lecturer, and then Reader\/Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience. I love all things \u2018brainy\u2019, a passion that originated due to my brother\u2019s head injury as a teen where he was knocked off his motorbike and critically ill, in a coma for a while, thankfully he recovered remarkably well. My textbook \u2018How to Build a Human Brain\u2019 is published by Palgrave MacMillan in early 2024. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as an adult in 2019 which came as a shock, but had likely been evident, undetected, for about ten years previously according to my Diabetes Consultant. This condition is caused by immune cells destroying the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin so the body cannot manufacture insulin. It is an autoimmune condition and has nothing to do with diet, weight, how much sugar you have eaten or any other myths.\u202fConsequently, I have to inject insulin between 5-20 times a day. I am not afraid of needles – they are my friend! It is still a poorly understood condition and I\u2019m constantly amazed about how little people know about it, how it is life threatening on a daily basis, and how it requires constant vigilance (24 hours a day \u2013 yes, even during sleep) to keep blood glucose under control. It has been a challenge to adjust to this new way of living but my diabetes nurse and NHS staff here in Sheffield have been so supportive, they are truly among the best in the world, and I could not have managed this without them and their dedicated care. I only wish the same was true for other conditions. I wear a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) inserted in my arm that talks to my smart phone and gives updates every 5 minutes. It has truly revolutionised my ability to manage the condition.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Career wise my focus has been on education and research about the brain, anatomy, functions, disease, cognition, and cognitive dysfunction. I also focus on developing new ways of detecting conditions earlier and measuring functional ability using innovative, co-created and co-designed technology. Our team was recently awarded funding for the first phase of the Longitude Dementia Prize, we were one of only 24 successful teams from 175 global applicants, and I am very proud of our achievement. Our plan \u2013 with our external partner Ombeond, is to build A.D.A (an automated dementia assistant) that will be wearable technology designed to adapt to end-user needs. People living with dementia in our region named the product and they will be involved in its co-creation throughout.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am passionate about educating people about disability, there are so many things about many conditions that are poorly understood, and this hinders capacity to fulfil personal, career and life goals for many. I feel it is our job to be spokespersons for those with disability to create a more diverse, compassionate, and supporting work environment and broaden understanding, access, and opportunities. We are in a privileged position as Co-Chairs in a well-regarded educational establishment, and we are determined to implement and navigate much-needed change. <\/span><\/p>\n

We need your voices and experiences. So, please get involved, join us, in any capacity and let\u2019s be a force for positive change.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jenny Cole, Co-Chair Hello, my name is Jenny and I am a Co-Chair of the Staff Disability Network.\u202f \u00a0 I\u2019ve been at Sheffield Hallam University for 12 years now and joined the Staff Disability Network Committee back in Spring 2022. \u202f\u00a0 I joined the Staff Disability Network as I wanted to become more knowledgeable about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":591,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-444","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":58,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":919,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/444\/revisions\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/sdn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}