Board of Directors
[Contact details for the Board of Directors]
Karen Robson
Disability Service Manager at UWIC, established the Disability Department at UWIC 10 years ago to respond to the needs of disabled students and has responsibility for the development of policy and provision for currently approx 1000 disabled students.
She also provides lecturing input on education courses delivered at UWIC and undertakes staff training both at UWIC and on behalf of other institutions/organisations within a wider consultancy remit, presenting at UK and international conferences.
Along with Carol Doyle she published 'Accessible Curricula: Good Practice for All' and has developed a range of good practice resources, including research on behalf of the DRC.
She was Chair of Skill Wales between 2001 and 2006 and sits on both the Skill HE Working Group and Skill Council. She joined the NADP Board in 2005.
Paddy Turner
Paddy Turner works at Sheffield Hallam University as a manager within their Disabled Student Support Team and as an Assessor for Deaf students within Sheffield Regional Assessment Centre. He is a Director of NADP Ltd and has been an active member of CHESS for nearly 10 years.
Paddy trained as a Sign Language Interpreter and successfully completed a degree in the subject from Wolverhampton University although management has now put a stop to his interpreting career. He has been assessing the needs of deaf students since 1998 and has found it a deeply satisfying and fascinating process. He believes firmly in keeping the aim of creating an inclusive student experience as the guiding principle in all that he does.
John Conway
John Conway has been Disability Officer at the Royal Agricultural College since 1999, managing the support provision for students, mainly with dyslexia, and also responsible for developing inclusive teaching, learning and assessment strategies.
As a full time academic he also has a direct impact on teaching and assessment methods through membership of our Teaching, Learning and Assessment committee, the Learning and Information Resources committee as well as contributing to a project team working to develop holistic student support services.
He believes very strongly in the rights of every student to access education according to their abilities and not to be restricted in their education by irrelevant dis-abilities. He joined the NADP board in 2006 to try and drive this agenda forward.
Nicola Martin
Nicola Martin is currently Head of Disabled Student Support at Sheffield Hallam Uni but will be moving to a new post in September. In her new role as Principal Lecture for Inclusive Practice, also at Hallam, she will take a lead on the development of the Autism Centre, amongst other things.Before starting work with disabled people in education she was a child. Over twenty something years, Nicola's roles in the sector have included special school teacher, specialist dyslexia tutor, head of additional learning support and provision for students with learning disabilities in FE, Adult Literacy tutor, DSA Assessor and Assessment Centre Manager. Her main research interest is in developing services for students with Asperger's syndrome in HE.
Vicki Jackson
Vicki Jackson, BSc PGCE PGDip Special Education (Visual Impairment) MSc, is currently a member of the additional support management team at The Sheffield College and Manager of Sheffield Regional Assessment Centre. She joined the NADP Board in 2005.
Her background is in teaching as a specialist teacher for visually impaired pupils before moving across to the FE sector in the early 1990s. She has a wealth of experience supporting disabled learners of all ages and abilities on mainstream courses in both FE and HE contexts.
Other achievements include:
- Winner of Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education 1997-2000 for a project relating to the teaching of Braille skills.
- Recently invited as specialist contributor to BBC Radio 4 In Touch programme for a programme relating to Transition to HE.
- Consultancy work with Creativity Action Research Awards.
Val Morgan
Val Morgan has worked in the Adult, Further and Higher Education sector since 1986, in a variety of roles and more specifically in disability/equality since 1988.
She has established three Disability Services where none existed before, and is at present the Head of the Disability and Dyslexia Service at Queen Mary, University of London, which has responsibility for the provision of appropriate academic support as well as special exam arrangements and liaison with academic departments and other service departments to ensure relevant support for all QM students, who have a SpLD, disability or chronic medical condition.
Val is also a member of the DSA London Forum (Chair or Vice Chair since 2004) where LA officers and HEI Disability staff meet twice a year to discuss and debate the DSA process and promote greater mutual understanding of each others' jobs.
Within London, she is a founder member of the University of London Disability Officers' Group, which meets termly to discuss relevant issues and disseminate good practice across UoL.
A member of NADO/NADP since its inception! A member of the Board since 2003
Glenys Tucker
Glenys Tucker first trained as a Nurse and Midwife and decided to re-train as a teacher. She always had an interest in disability issues and after further study was given the responsibility for developing the Academic and Learning Support Department at Worcester Sixth Form College.
The College now has one of the largest learning support departments for sixth form colleges in the country and gained 'outstanding' at their last OFSTED inspection. Glenys has sat on a number of committees within the DfES and Skills for Life sector to ensure improved educational provision for students with disabilities and those from socially deprived areas.
Glenys joined the NADP Board in 2000 as a representative for the FE sector and now has the privilege of being the Treasurer.
Catherine Badminton
Catherine Badminton is Principal Disability Adviser and Access Centre Manager at the University of Central Lancashire. She joined Preston Polytechnic in 1989, when it made a commitment to disabled students, to develop provision for a small but growing number of disabled students. There are now almost 2000 students known to the Disability Service.
Within UCLan she is a member of Student Services Heads' Group and serves on a number of committees, including the Diversity Committee.
In 1995 she became manager of the (NFAC, now NNAC affiliated) Access Centre and is on the NNA Executive, as North West Regional Co-ordinator.
She has managed disability related HEFCE funded projects and has contributed to a number of other HEFCE funded initiatives as a member of the steering group. She is a member of the Teaching Academy.Karen Hall
Karen Hall is the Manager of the Access Centre at The Royal National College in Hereford, a national Beacon status college of Further Education for people who are blind or partially sighted. Her background is in teaching and she joined RNC in 1986 as a lecturer in ICT.
Karen took over the Access Centre in 1994, which has grown significantly and now provides assessments throughout the West Midlands and Wales for the Disabled Students' Allowance and Access to Work, together with diagnostic assessment and screening.
Karen's particular interests are the identification of practical solutions, particularly for people with sensory loss, long-term medical conditions or mental health difficulties, and the transition between FE and HE and then into employment. Her role requires extensive liaison with employers, which informs the assessment process and provides invaluable opportunities for the removal of barriers and awareness-raising.
Deb Viney
Deb Viney is the Diversity Advisor for the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) which is an independent college within the federal University of London. The School is one of the most diverse institutions in the UK in terms of both staff and student ethnicity with more than 200 nations represented.
Deb's SOAS role includes addressing issues relating to age, disability, ethnicity / race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and sexual identity, especially the activity which results from current and forthcoming legislation for both staff and students.
After graduating from Portsmouth as a mature student in Psychology (1989) Deb gained a wide range of experience including working in neuropsychology and later in Psychiatry - primarily on a haemophilia and HIV project considering the cognitive and emotional effects of infection which formed the basis of her M.Phil. thesis (which was finally published in 2007!).
Deb also taught part time in psychology at all levels from GCSE to post-graduate. From 1997 - February 2006 Deb was the Disability Co-ordinator and later Head of the Disability Service at the University of Southampton, where she drew on all of her psychology skills and academic experience to develop a service with a national reputation for excellence.