KU students have elected the University’s first ever disabled student’s officer in last Thursday's student union election.

Jamie Pipkin, 18, a first year history student was elected with 187 votes. He was an unopposed candidate for the newly created part-time position.

Although his election was not a great surprise, Jamie cracked a broad smile when he was officiallly appointed first KU disabled student’s rep.

He said to RiverOnline: “I am proud and happy to be the first Kingston student to take on this responsibility. Obviously, disabled students lack visibility and it’s a good thing that now, they have a representative, who is also a student, to whom they can go to directly.’’

Hassan Barakat, the current vice-president for communication and campaigns explained: ''The student union came up with the idea of this new position collectively, in an attempt to better cater for the diverse students demographics.''

In 2009, Kingston University has registered 1,316 students with a disability, which accounts for almost 6 per cent of the whole 22,782 student population.

Diagnosed with Aspergers syndome, a learning disability, Jamie wants to do more to "raise all student’s awareness over all disabilities, visible and invisible, like dyslexia for instance" and "give disabled students a voice".

In his manifesto, the candidate had declared: "I am proud to say that I have Aspergers Syndrome and that it has been a key factor in making me who I am today. I feel I have come a long way and feel that I can offer advice and motivation for disabled students(...)".

He added: "It’s a shame that so many disabled students ignore how they can access equipment, material or funding which they are entitled to and will really help them out through their studies.''

Pipkin said: ''Disability can isolate students. I want to help them fit in.''

Interactivity

Pipkin said first priority for 2010-2011 was interactivity.

He said: ''I want to establish a Facebook group where KU students will be able to liaise and talk about their experiences. Also, I want to develop a video interface on youtube to make it easier for disabled students to acccess information on news, events and crucial information for them.''

Contacted on Friday, the disability department was not available for a reaction regarding the election of a disability student representative.