The Trinity Ability Co-op has received €4,800 in funding from the Trinity Trust Special Fund, a fund that was set up last year in order to provide support for student life during the pandemic.
The funding will help the group to improve the inclusivity of social activities across college, and address the lack of inclusivity in clubs and societies.
The support of this fund will also assist the Co-op in achieving its wider goal of equal access and inclusion.
The Co-op is a group set up to establish inclusivity for all students with disabilities in Trinity, working to increase discussions surrounding inclusivity, raise awareness about the challenges students with disabilities face daily and help them develop graduate attribute skills.
Co-op plans to develop an inclusivity checklist, develop inclusivity and accessibility guidelines for clubs and societies, and develop and provide disability awareness training for all clubs and societies.
A team of nine students with disabilities lead the Co-op, and work in partnership with Trinity’s Disability Service.
Trinity College Dublin Trust set up the special fund of €100,000 last year in order to support “innovative initiatives designed to enhance Student Life under current restrictions”. Applications, which closed December 10th, were open to societies, sports clubs and other organised student groups.
In a statement to The University Times in November, Secretary of the Central Societies Committee (CSC) Ultan Pringle said: “The announcement of this new scheme by Trinity Trust speaks to something we here at the CSC absolutely know to be true: that the Trinity College Dublin student experience, even in these COVID times, is defined, enriched and made exceptional by the 126 societies which operate here.”
Last month, Trinity received €482,364 from the government to invest in additional supports for students with disabilities, such as a sensory processing project, an inclusive online technology project and physical access improvements to campus.
The funding comes from a major €5.4 million fund for supporting students with disabilities across the country, announced by Higher Education Minister Simon Harris.
Trinity intends on using the money to develop a sensory processing project, which would aim to provide students who have sensory processing issues with specialist supports and resources, and to raise awareness among staff about the issue.
College will also seek to make virtual learning more inclusive for students with disabilities, and increase engagement with those students through Trinity’s new global safety and security solution, which aims to improve communications between the university and staff and students.
