Society for Students with a Disability (SSD)

Special General Meeting

December 6th 2023 at 2pm

Zoom link: https://uvic.zoom.us/j/85333484499?pwd=ZHN2aCtHWG1wbHdjdHpSQ3d2R0x3dz09 

    1. Welcome – Call to order at 2:05 PM

    2. Acknowledgement of Territories – Chair offers land acknowledgment.

    3. Adoption of Agenda and Ratification of the Minutes 

  • Ratification of Last SGM minutes – Hannah/Zackary

        1. July 18th SGM Minutes

  • Adoption of today’s (December 6th 2023) SGM agenda – Zackary/Andrea

    1. General Overview & Introduction to the SSD

  • Overview provided by the Chair.

    1. Reports 

  • Council 

        1. Chairperson
          1. Mental Health Resource Fair – annual event
            1. Online resource library about services, captioned and interpreted as an ongoing resource
            2. Mental Health Resource List by Emma
          2. Hiring Committee for Education & Admin Coordinator
          3. Access4All
            1. Post Secondary Disability Alliance
              1. UBC DUC
        2. Treasurer 
          1. Study skills drop in sessions collab with LAPxSSD
            1. Hybrid
          2. E-hired as Comms Coordinator
            1. Research
            2. Indigenous Disability Awareness Month 
            3. Assistive Tech Guide
          3. Presentations
            1. 5 Days of Action presentation on Oct 31st
            2. Accessibility Training
          4. Financial Presentation.pdf
            1. October actuals, November is estimations
              1. Green numbers (Costs – underspent), red numbers (Costs – overspent), yellow (perfect)
                1. Students numbers declining
                2. Staff working more hours than budgeted
                3. Funding Requests: delays in processing
                4. Programs – healthy
                5. Office supplies – bigger one offs
                6. Overall generally where we were hoping to be
          5. Please send any questions to the treasurer of the SSD e-mail.
        3. UVSS Board Representative
          1. Austism Peer Support Group going into next year with Connor
            1. Connecting with Peer Support Centre
          2. UVSS UVic Accessibility Committee representative (alternate Cleo Philips) 
          3. Working with the board and ARC
          4. Meeting with Adrean to maybe create workshop for CAL (accessing accommodations)

  • Staff

      1. Office Coordinator
        1. Working on strategizing and building connections with community and UVSS
          1. Brainstorming on:
            1. Community garden rock painting
            2. Working on events, council policies and procedures
            3. Setting regulations and expectations so we’re clear about accessibility
        2. Looking at ways to support UVic students in solidarity with Palestine
  1. We’re thinking of organizing a write-in in Victoria or Esquimalt
  1. I’ve been doing training with people – team building
  1. It’s been lovely having more people around since May!
  2. Last night we did the online portion of the Care Workshop
  3. I’m so grateful for all of you!
  4. We still have council positions available https://uvicssd.ca/council-positions/ 
  1. Research & Communications Coordinator
  2. Education & Administrative Coordinator
    1. Food security
      1. 71 applications – 69 are processed (full documentation provided)
      2. Budget: 14 200 of 20 000.
      3. Deadline for receipts: Dec 11.
    2. Care workshop
    3. Co-op presentation
    4. Conversation cafe
    5. OREM presentation
    6. Neurodiversity training
      1. To UVic staff in the New Year
      2. In collaboration with Adrean
    7. Spring cooking program
      1. Likely on Tuesdays starting Jan 30th
      2. Taught by Dan
      3. (Dan) I’m legally blind, macular degeneration, but I’m also a cook! I brought this forward because learning to cook provided a source of confidence since people said I couldn’t. I think these skills are highly applicable to life, especially with rising food costs. I’d like to teach people how to make affordable, healthy meals safely. I’ll be demoing essential skills like knife skills, cleaning, etc.
      4. (Marissa) We’ll be basing these meals on the Good Food box to help people figure out what to do with them! We’re renting space from a community center in Fairfield. 
      5. The budget breakdown goes to:
        1. Kitchen rental
        2. Dan’s wages
        3. Good Food Boxes
        4. Equipment (Webcam, tripod, cooking accouterments, microphone – esp. lapel mics)
    8. Questions: none come to mind – chair feels big success for the community 

  1. Elections

  • Motion to appoint an Electoral Officer and Scrutineer – Hannah/Emma
  • Marissa is the electoral officer, Adrean is scrutineer.
  • Nominations for Vacant Council Positions
  1. Nominations open for one Student Liaison 
    1. Emma motivates by text, read by Julia.
      1. Emma is elected as Student Liaison.
  2. Nominations open for one International Students’ Representative
    1. Faria self-nominates – motivation by e-mail, read by Adrean.
      1. Faria is elected as International Students Representative
  3. Nominations open for two General Member at Large
    1. AJ self-nominates – provides verbal motivation.
      1. AJ is elected as General Member at Large.
    2. Mya self-nominates – provides text motivation, read by Adrean.
      1. Mya is elected as General Member at Large.

    1. Business

  • Discussion – Open for questions.

      1. Advocacy Bake Sale
        1. Dec 7th at 11am-3pm in Elliot
      2. Accessible Tech Workshop 
        1. Jan 11th at 11am-1pm on Zoom

  • Council Onboarding & Training Dates

    1. Poll for new council members will be sent by Julia
      1. Please contact Julia and/or Adrean with questions, access needs, and availability.

  1. Adjournment – at 3PM