Workshops
Over the years I have built an award winning blog, whilst working in the charity and education sector. I am blending these together to bring you four bespoke workshops with my knowledge and unique experience. Every Wednesday in May I will be announcing these individual workshops. If you think one or more of these would benefit you, your team or organisation – please email me on gemturnerblog@gmail.com to discuss content details, fee and date availability.
Workshop 1
An introduction to disability by Gem Turner: For beginners and beyond
My favourite part of creating my blog is using my honesty and sometimes humour, when necessary, to get across quite serious topics surrounding disability that no one dare talk about. That’s why I want to bring this to life, more specifically – into your lives. I’ll be combining some of my most popular blog topics to create a beginner’s guide to disability.
What will you get from this session? Whether you work in retail, a school, have an independent business or are a national organisation – this workshop can be adapted to you.
Ultimately, I’ll create an open space to honestly discuss best practices and how to create an improved inclusive environment for your team, organisation and beyond.
Workshop 2
Empowering disabled students in school/university
When you’re a disabled student, at times, every aspect of education has to be considered before you even think about your studies. How to get there, how people will treat you, where you’re going to eat and live (if you’re at University). The strain and stress of getting an education can cause so much anxiety and can impact not only your studies but on your adult life too. In this workshop, I will talk about my experience of education (both studying and working at The University of Leeds) and the reasonable adjustments I was offered that benefitted me. I will highlight the personal challenges I had as a disabled student and share top tips on how to create an inclusive education that no standard teaching course covers.
Workshop 3
Supporting disabled students with career advice
Do you work in the field of employment and careers? Do you feel well equipped to advise disabled people? I believe that career advice is potentially one of the most important conversations you could have with a young (or any age for that matter) person and will heavily shape that person’s future. When you’re disabled, there are so many elements and barriers to consider, around both physical and attitudinal barriers. A good advisor will recognise these and work with the disabled person on how to navigate these where possible. In this workshop I will provide an overview of disability, share my personal experience and barriers of my career so far and outline top tips on how to adapt your advice to suit disabled people to guide them to achieve the future they strive for.
Workshop 4
Navigating barriers as a disabled leader
I believe that at the moment, disabled peoples’ voices are just not heard enough. In order for society to work for everyone, we need true diverse leaders. We have great pockets of disabled voices but where are our disabled leaders? In 2014-16 I was a sabbatical officer for Leeds University Union. This was a great platform for me to develop my skills but also raise issues around accessibility on campus. However, I noticed just how many unconscious barriers there were when you are a disabled leader – whether that’s physical, attitudinal or the ingrained culture of organisations.
I’m really passionate about the idea of empowering more disabled leaders. More disabled leaders = the increased chance of inclusive changes happening!
That’s why I’ve created this workshop.
Who is this for?
This workshop can be adapted for either non-disabled people providing spaces for young leaders or for disabled young people wanting to become leaders. We will delve into disability, the barriers out there, what I experienced and how we can work together to try and navigate these as much as possible so that we have more disabled leaders – whether that’s in the classroom, workforce or in society.