NCI Affinity Scheme with O2 Ireland



Back left, NCI President Phillip Matthews with student Girvan Dempsey
Front, from left, Stephen with Danuta Gray, CEO O2 Ireland, and NCI student Robert Brady

    Friday, 7^th October, was a very exciting day for everyone at NCI, and particularly for our students with disabilities. We officially launched the NCI Affinity Scheme with O2 Ireland and, through the scheme, O2 will donate up to 5% of an eligible customer’s monthly spend to our Disability Support Service.
 

I’ll tell you how you can sign-up to the Affinity Scheme in a moment but first I want to tell you a little about the service we provide to our students with disabilities and why this funding is so important.

There was a fantastic turn-out at the event

Over the last number of years we have worked hard to increase the number of students with disabilities studying at NCI.  Through progressive policies, proactive support services and participation at a national level, we have made significant strides in tackling marginalisation and social exclusion for people with disabilities.  The census from 2006 indicates that almost 10% of the population have a disability and yet recent research suggests that only 4% of students with disabilities are going on to college.  NCI is bucking this trend and I’m delighted to say that as of this September over 7% of our full-time student body are students with disabilities. 

NCI student Robert Brady spoke about what the
college's disability support services have meant to him.

In addition to an increase in numbers, the diversity of disabilities presenting has also increased.  We now have a broader range of disabilities to support and a large number of ‘high support’ students.  While this is a very positive development, it presents significant challenges in terms of coordinating support to meet the individual needs of a growing number of students.

The funding that the college hopes to generate through the O2 Affinity Scheme will help us meet this challenge.  In partnership with O2, we want to create an inclusive college community where all students are afforded the same opportunities to learn, socialise, participate and progress.

Students who are blind or vision impaired are still 50% less likely to go on to college and with O2’s help we can target these students and reverse that statistic.  The first few weeks in college are crucially important for students with disabilities and with O2’s help we can put resources in place to meet these students earlier and coordinate their supports faster.  We are already seeing the benefits of the O2 Affinity Scheme as this month we kick-start a comprehensive and sustained programme of awareness training for staff and faculty. 

O2 CEO, Danuta Gray, on stage

So the big question you’ll be asking yourself is… HOW DO I SIGN UP?!

The success of the Affinity Scheme is dependent on the number of O2 customers who sign-up to it.  Signing-up couldn’t be easier and it doesn’t cost you a cent.  All you have to do is free text NCI to 50308 and 5% of your monthly bill will go to our Disability Support Service.  We need you to tell everyone you know – your mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, partners, uncles, aunts, grannies and granddads – literally everyone you know, so that we can raise the funds to continue the great work we’re doing.