As a child, growing up in London, Zainab was fascinated by the world of books. They loved reading stories, both fiction and non-fiction, building up a collection of over 700 books. They excelled academically and ended up coming to university at just 17 years of age, choosing to study psychology at Bournemouth University.
“I really love people. People are really interesting, and psychology is such a fun topic. I picked Bournemouth because while it’s the same course everywhere the optional modules that Bournemouth University offers are fascinating.”
Starting university at 17 was not easy for Zainab as they felt they were not able to access the same experience as many of the other students on their course.
“I joined climbing, but I couldn't be a full member of the club as the insurance didn't cover me being too young. Bournemouth’s culture has changed a lot now, but back then it was still a very heavy drinking culture. There was just stuff I couldn't get involved in, whether society based or even friends based. So, I just didn't really get involved. It was just kind of lonely for a bit.”
As Zainab settled in, they got more involved with SUBU, standing to be a Student Rep. After getting elected, Zainab also felt encouraged to get back into volunteering – something they enjoyed back at school. They volunteered for The Story Works, a charity run by Bournemouth University academics to help local children develop creativity through storytelling.
Zainab also was part of a group of students who came up with the idea of creating SUBU’s Threads Society, and became the society’s President.
“My first elected position in a society was with Threads because I really loved crafting. Me and two friends, Charlie and Kenny, approached SUBU and asked, ‘How do we start society?’ Because the arts crafting spaces in Bournemouth are always behind a price wall, we wanted a free society where people could craft. It was astonishing! We had about 100 members in the first three months. We also won Best Up and Coming society of the year at the SUBU Awards. I am very proud of Threads.”
This year, Zainab was also elected as SUBU’s Disabilities, Accessibility and Neuro-Diverse Part-Time Officer.
Having faced many health challenges and lack of understanding of disability, they wanted to ensure this didn’t happen to other students and that there was more disability awareness across the university.
“In my second year I was in hospital basically for all of March. I just kept being bounced back and forth and just being admitted and then sent home and told to come back in for tests. My essay extension request was denied, partly because of the way the system works. So, in the end all my work got capped as it was not submitted on time. I felt misunderstood and isolated, and I knew there were other people out there that feel the same. There were also other issues I had, just with general accessibility and accommodations, like in lectures. And I thought, ‘let me try to change that!’ So that's why I applied for the role.”
As they become a strong voice for students with disabilities at the university, Zainab developed advocacy skills and grew in confidence and focus, which they are keen to continue developing as a future career.
“I'm a lot more focused. When I first started Uni, I just wanted to help people and thought, ‘Psychology would be good for that. I can find a job helping people.’ But now, not necessarily that I found my niche per se, but I do love working on disabilities. It's one of my favourite things. I could talk about disability access and rights for hours. There are cool things in that field that I want to get involved in and make a real difference to people’s lives. I think my experience with SUBU and BU will help me create a rewarding future career of community outreach for people with disabilities.”
You can find the full 2023/24 Impact Report here.