Celebrating Disability History Month
“For me, Disability History Month is about awareness, visibility and inclusion.”
Sana is a Postgraduate Taught student on the MSc Bioscience Futures: Communication, Innovation and Entrepreneurship course in the National Heart and Lung Institute.
The course combines entrepreneurial, communication and commercialisation skills to address global challenges.
Sana enjoys how interactive her course is and says that it bridges the gap between her undergraduate biomedical degree and applications of research in the real world.
“We have workshops and panel discussions alongside our lectures, so there are lots of opportunities to engage in discussion and practise public speaking skills.”
Sana says that she’s had a supportive experience at Imperial.
“Everyone is given an opportunity to participate, and each person’s contribution is valued. The academic and administrative teams have both been great – they’re really responsive and willing to help.”
One of her highlights from the course is the 16-week placement she carried out with Imperial College Healthcare Trust.
“I worked on cervical and breast cancer screening programmes and tried to understand why some women and people who require screenings choose not to attend them. I delivered a report with recommendations that included replicating data from private screenings on NHS records and developing storytelling narratives for patients and families on the importance of screenings.”
Alongside her studies, Sana has taken part in several hackathons through the Enterprise Lab and won awards for her projects. She’s joined networking and collider events and co-founded a startup called Sanaa which aims to bridge the structural gaps in healthcare for women and people assigned female at birth. Sana has also received several awards, including the ‘She Inspires’ Award which was given at the House of Lords, and she was recognised at No. 10 Downing Street for creating awareness of women’s health issues.
Accessing the Disability Advisory Service
Sana has received support from the Disability Advisory Service to help her manage her health conditions alongside her studies.
“I met with a disability advisor as soon as I started and found them really helpful and willing to listen. They helped me access a mentor and were supportive about helping me find a different mentor when I requested it. My new mentor understands how my health conditions affect me and he’s been incredibly supportive.”
Sana also received support from her departmental disability advisor, who advocated for her to have extra time for her assessments due to the fluctuating nature of her conditions.
Sana advises students to register with the Disability Advisory Service as early as possible, because slots can fill up quickly at the start of the academic year, and to know who your disability advisor is and to keep in touch with them.
“There were times during my course when I was dealing with a lot of things and my disability advisor checked in with me, which I found really helpful.”
Sana lives with endometriosis and fibromyalgia and said it can be challenging to have an invisible illness. “I might look fine on the outside but on the inside be in immense pain. I’ve found it useful to talk to people who will be able to help me, whether that’s the admin team for a course, course directors, or module leaders. You don’t need to disclose everything, just the support you need.”
Recognising and celebrating people with disabilities
For Sana, Disability History Month is about awareness, visibility and inclusion.
“I’ve been very vocal in sharing my experience of my health condition and I feel like by talking to my social circle about it, I’ve made a small difference to how someone might approach meeting someone else with my conditions.
“It’s important to acknowledge that people with health conditions are often working twice as hard, and they’re often managing mental health as well as physical health.
“Disability History Month is also about recognising and celebrating people with disabilities, particularly those who have given amazing inventions to the world.”
Read next
Access support from the Disability Advisory Service.
Find out what’s happening at Imperial for Disability History Month.
Find out more about the MSc Bioscience Futures: Communication, Innovation and Entrepreneurship course.
Learn about opportunities available at the Enterprise Lab.