Jane Dudley - Assessment Centre Coordinator / Disabled Employees Network chair
NTU supported Jane at a difficult time. Now she’s working to provide that same standard of care to our colleagues and students.
I feel valued. You’re able to expand and develop yourself in different areas here, and you’re recognised for it too. You can always count on that encouragement and support.
You never get tired of making a difference in someone’s life. It’s a challenge, but it’s so rewarding.
There’s many different parts to my job. I run a centre providing assessments for disabled students, to help them access government funding; I’m the go-to person for the technical and IT aspects of disabled students’ learning; and I work closely with the library, to ensure that our resources are properly formatted and accessible. I’m also chair of the Disabled Employees Network. I’m here to ensure that our disabled colleagues and students have got the support they deserve – and what’s great is that we’re consistently able to develop our services around what people tell us they need.
We want the University to be as inclusive and understanding a place as possible. I’m committed to providing the same standard of support that I received, towards the start of my own time at NTU: back then I developed an illness, and my attendance became quite irregular. What’s more, I felt like I was really struggling to do myself justice in the job. It was all very frustrating. But the University were fantastic, they genuinely understand that life is different for everyone here.
It meant I could do shorter days, and even work from home. That flexibility was really helpful, and the support was very proactive. They genuinely understand that life is different for everyone here: if I hadn’t had that understanding and empathy, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have made it at the University.
As a member of the Disabled Employees Network (DEN), I’m involved all sorts of initiatives and projects. Increasingly, that includes new builds across our campuses, as we work with architects and the Estates team to help ensure the environment is accessible to all. Our group meets once every couple of months, and it’s a good example of something we’re seeing more and more at NTU – effective collaboration across departments. Our buildings are beautiful, but that’s only half the story: more and more, we’re being integrated into decisions, policy-making and legislation.
I feel valued. You’re able to expand and develop yourself in different areas at NTU, and you’re recognised for those ambitions. You can always count on a great standard of encouragement and support.