Name: Zoe Hallam
Course: PPE, St John’s, Second Year
Spare Time: Campaigner for Muscular Dystrophy
Zoe Hallam and I quickly establish that we have several important things in common: both disorganised second year PPEists, both have already racked up an impressive array of last minute all-night essays this term and both regularly indulge in our guilty love of Glee, the US TV series based on an all-singing all-dancing high school choir.
However, while I wile away my free hours checking spellings in Cherwell‘s charming offices, Hallam spends her time as regional ambassador for ‘Trailblazers’ the youth branch of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, planning campaigns, co-ordinating information gathering and presenting the findings to Parliament, where last December she delivered a speech for the 18 month anniversary of the campaign.
While the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign is heavily geared towards fund-raising, Trailblazers focuses on campaigning for issues relevant to the 14-25s, explains Hallam. Since its establishment in July 2008, the organisation has run three broad information gathering campaigns on Higher Education, transport and leisure activities, and are now in the process of using the information collected to tackle the specific problems raised and propose solutions.
I ask how she balances the workload attached to her role with Oxford-centred activities. ‘It’s busier during the campaigns’, says Hallam, ‘publicity work and dealing with the press takes up time, and it can be up to twenty-five hours a week, but I’m in a bit of a lull at the moment.’ She explains that, for her, the most important part of the campaign is getting organisations to think harder about the practical details of provisions for the disabled: there tends to be a ‘shallow conception’ of accessibility, where people think that installing a ramp is enough. Often, she says, organisations claim to be accessible, but in fact the facilities haven’t been tested or thought through properly.
The transport campaign revealed the cost implications for disabled travellers: in London, for example, the Tube is inaccessible for wheelchair users, and while taxis are expensive, subsidies are only available for those living inside London. Other problems include inadequate training for the correct use of ramps on public transport and the varied quality of staff assistance – Hallam smiles ironically as she points out that while train staff are often there to help with getting on at the start of the journey, ‘they sometimes forget you also need to get off’.
The main concern with Higher Education, says Hallam, is the difficulties associated with entering the clearing procedure for those with additional requirements. Checking the University you are going to has everything you need is a pain for everyone, but approaching the clearing process with a disability means you are ‘severely disadvantaged’, Hallam explains, ‘there is a lot of information to find out in such a short amount of time’. Hallam manned a Trailblazers helpline on A-Level results day to offer advice and guidance to those going through clearing.
Raising awareness and getting people to pay more attention to detail is a key element of the campaign, for many people with disabilities practical considerations mean that extra organisation and planning is required for every outing. In the café, she points out the difference little things can make. ‘The height of the counter when you want to get your change, the space between tables’, things owners often don’t think twice about.
Hallam is due to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) in February, where she will consider the changes that companies have been making over the last year, and suggest improvements for the future. She emphasises the difference between the transport campaign and the investigation into leisure activities: Trailblazers can influence services by presenting their findings to bodies such as ATOC, but since most businesses are not accountable to a higher body, there is a limit to the direct impact the campaign can have. That the campaign can, however, encourage individuals to approach the organisations is important in itself, argues Hallam. ‘We want to give people the confidence to actually go out and talk to people about their concerns – part of what we do is supposed to be empowering.’
