A Message from the D.S.S.A.(Disability Studies Student Association)
Hello, Disability Studies students of UWindsor!! My name is Celeste Simpson and I am the current President of Disability Studies Student Association (DSSA) for the 2021-2022 year. I am coming to your screens in hopes of recruiting specifically executive members, but also general members for the upcoming year. We need to fill these positions to keep DSSA going, and I feel strongly that DSSA is a super important student group to have on campus!
What do we do, you ask?
We work to support, represent, and advocate for the Disability Studies students at UWindsor, as well as people with disabilities in general. Advocacy is a major part of DSSA, we work really hard to make sure that UWindsor remains an inclusive and accessible campus for anyone and everyone.
We also hold several events and fundraisers on and off-campus throughout the year! We have developed relationships with several organizations within the community, and we do a lot of events and activities with them. Also, the majority of the funds we make with these events and fundraisers are given back to these organizations. Community involvement is another major part of DSSA!
Students (in any program) are also welcome to come to any one of our representatives with issues relating to accessibility and/or disability and we will make sure that it is brought to the proper administration and resolved as quickly as possible.
Recruitment & Available Positions.
The Executive Positions that are available are:
Vice/Co-President
- Will be my right-hand person – helping me run meetings, plan and carry out events and fundraisers throughout the year, take over for me in a meeting if I can’t be there, etc.
- We will be working together, so it will not be too much work for either of us!
Treasurer
- Will deal with the club’s finances – we can discuss what that entails as the year progresses
- This position will not be too difficult seeing as everything is online, you will most likely just be emailing UWSA as needed and maybe keeping some sort of record of our financial situation
1st, 3rd, & 4th Year Representatives
- Are there for students in their year of study if they happen to face any issues relating to disability, accessibility, etc.
- The representatives will bring those issues to me and we will take it to the proper administration and see that the issue is resolved ASAP
- This position is awesome because it allows us to help students that may not even be in the Disability Studies program!!
Social Work & Disability Studies Representative
- This representative has the same job description as the representatives listed above, except they are there to help the students in the Social Work & Disability Studies program specifically
Psychology & Disability Studies Representative
- This representative has the same job description as the representatives listed above, except they are there to help the students in the Psychology & Disability Studies program specifically
- Typically there aren’t too many issues brought to our representatives, so it is a fairly simple position to hold!
If you are thinking you don’t want to have an executive position, we are always looking for general members as well! We just need to make sure these executive positions are filled in order to keep DSSA going.
Not in Disability Studies or the Joint Programs but interested in this work? No problem! You can join as a general member; we would love to see people from outside the program joining in on this amazing and inspiring work!
What is going on with COVID-19?
Due to a mix of online and in-person classes, to keep things simple DSSA will still be delivered in an online format. This just keeps it easy for everyone. Despite being online, DSSA had great success with events last year, so we intend to keep it that way! We will keep some of the events we did last year, but we also hope to add some new ones as well. So, join DSSA to find out what those events are and to help support our community organizations!
If any of this interests you or you have any questions, feel free to send me an email at [email protected]! DSSA is a very chill, tight-knit group that honestly starts to feel like a second family. I have been a part of the group for 4 years now and I am so glad I took the leap and joined in my first year of University!
Here is a link to a YouTube video that a past co-president and I made going into further detail about DSSA:
Check out our Instagram too,
Hope to see some of you this upcoming year,
Celeste Simpson, President of Disability Studies Student Association
