The Guardian recently published an article, written by the Corporate Development Executive at IBM about the importance of being open about your sexuality at work. Vince Cipollone says:
“If your organisation doesn’t create an environment where everyone feels welcome, it won’t be successful in the long term. I wholeheartedly believe that the more someone is allowed to be themselves, the better they are able to do their job.”
Read more here.
This Friday 17 May is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. To find out more information about the day see here http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/
A teenager who was diagnosed with autism and told he would never be able to read has been tipped as a future Nobel prize winner.
Jacob Barnett, who was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at two years old, is now studying for a Master’s degree in quantum physics.
Experts say the student from Indiana has an IQ higher than Albert Einstein’s.
His mother Kristine Barnett, author of The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius, told BBC Breakfast she initially found it hard to get Jacob the right education.
More … http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22477958#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
A collaborative project between Bournemouth University, the local Trust, Dorset Mental Health Forum and Dorset HealthWatch has produced a collection of 3 short films featuring people who live and work/study in Dorset sharing their stories of their personal recovery from mental health issues.
Speaking up – Time to Change Dorset (T2C) Film 1
You can recover – Time to Change Dorset (T2C) Film 2
Stronger, better, person – Time to Change Dorset (T2C) Film 3
There is also an attitudes to mental health issues survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PWD52K2) which aims to look at people’s experience to establish whether watching any of these videos has started to change or reinforce existing attitudes towards mental health issues.
Last month ECU ran online surveys asking what HEIs can do to support staff and students experiencing mental health difficulties.
They received an overwhelming response, with 3500 staff and students completing the survey and say, “thank you to everyone who responded, and everyone who supported us by circulating and disseminating the survey.
We are currently analysing the results and will be conducting follow-up interviews with a selection of respondents in the coming months. We will also be conducting interviews with national and sector bodies interested in this work.
We will share the interim results in the summer, with a full report and supporting materials to follow.”
See their guidance on supporting staff and students experiencing mental health issues here:
This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, being celebrated in England between 23 and 30 May. With this in mind we have chosen Stephen Fry as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Stephen is well known for his variety of talents including; being an actor, quiz show host, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director, activist, and board member of Norwich City Football Club. However, what is less known about Stephen is that he suffers from Bipolar Disorder. He was finally diagnosed when he was 37 years old having experienced mental health problems for much of his life.
He has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder, which was also depicted in the documentary ‘Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive’. During the programme, he was dismayed to discover the extent of prejudice surrounding mental health problems;
“I want to speak out, to fight the public stigma and to give a clearer picture of mental illness that most people know little about.
“Once the understanding is there, we can all stand up and not be ashamed of ourselves, then it makes the rest of the population realise that we are just like them but with something extra.”
He is involved with the mental health charity Stand to Reason and is a celebrity supporter of the mental health charity ‘Time to Change’.
A screenplay about a boxer’s fight against homophobia has landed two knockout blows for a University of Greenwich lecturer.
Dr Chris Brown’s script, Knock-Out, features a boxer who has to tackle the prejudice of the men at his sports club when they find out he is gay. It has won two awards in the last fortnight: Best Screenplay at the London Independent Film Festival, and the Cordelia Award for Best UK Script at the BlueCat screenplay competition. BlueCat is based in Hollywood, and run by writer-director Gordy Hoffman, brother of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. More … http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/news/articles/2012/a2611-boxing-film
The government has announced that caste discrimination will now be included as an aspect of race discrimination.
Business Secretary, Vince Cable, said caste would in future be treated as “an aspect of race”.
Read more about this story on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22267147
Find out what Matt and the foundation have been upto recently by listening to Matt’s blog.
