St. Clair College is dedicated to providing high-quality education to all students. As part of the College's commitment to accessibility for students with disabilities, there are established policies and processes for students requesting accommodations. There is also an Accessibility Committee to review our policies and promote accessibility on campus. Faculty members have a responsibility to ensure that all students have equal access to learning. This responsibility includes being mindful of the needs of students with disabilities when creating online and in-class learning materials. Creating accessible materials demonstrates a commitment to excellence in teaching and ensures that all students have the opportunity to succeed. Additionally, making materials accessible can also have benefits for all students, not only those with disabilities. For example, closed captions and transcripts can be helpful for English language learners, and text-to-speech tools can assist students with reading challenges. Prioritizing accessibility in teaching practices contributes to the college's vision of "Excellence in All We Do."
Photo by Randy Tarampi on Unsplash
Photo by Daniel Ali on Unsplash
St. Clair College believes in and promotes the rights of all persons with disabilities as enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005), and its related Accessibility Standards Regulations. The College is committed to fostering a rich working and learning environment that affirms the rights of all persons, including those with disabilities, to have access to equal opportunity in employment, education, accommodation or business dealings with the College.
ST. CLAIR POLICY 2.2 ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility and Access
Accessibility means being able to access something without barriers. For Titchkosky (2011), “access is a way people have of relating to the ways they are embodied as beings in the particular places where they find themselves.” Accessibility requires proactivity and planning. It is not individual accommodations or retrofits that occur after the fact. Instead, start thinking about access and accessibility beyond individuals but within systems and norms as well. True accessibility and access means disabled people can exist as themselves in relation to their surrounding environments. As Emily Ladau (2021) stated, “accessibility is about making things more equitable so that disabled people have the same opportunities and support to thrive as do nondisabled people.” Accessibility is not about convenience—if something is inaccessible it is not simply an inconvenience for the individual. Instead, if something is inaccessible, it is exclusionary.
Accessibility, Disability, and EDI
In postsecondary (PSE) discourse, EDI is a catch-all phrase to address and label systemic inequities within higher education. Accessibility and disability, however, are often absent from these conversations. A 2021 review of EDI-focused academic literature found little to no engagement with disabled students and staff (Wolbring & Lillywhite, 2021). The authors pointed to a need to “critically analyze EDI efforts in relation to disabled students, non-academic staff, and academic staff, the intersectionality of disabled people with other EDI groups and the impact of the EDI efforts on the social situation of disabled people beyond educational settings” (Wolbring & Lillywhite, 2021). The lack of engagement and centering of accessibility and disability within EDI discourse needs to be addressed if we are to truly embrace the possibility of an accessible postsecondary sector.
Accessibility and Education
A 2017 report by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) found that barriers in education cause close to 10 percent of individuals with disabilities to quit pursuing their educational goals before achieving them (CHRC, 2017). The OHRC outlines the main barriers to education for students with disabilities (including postsecondary students) as inadequate funding, physical accessibility, the accommodation process, lack of individualization, ineffective dispute resolution mechanisms, and negative attitudes and stereotypes. These barriers—and more—are prevalent for students in the postsecondary sector.
Prioritizing efforts to achieve barrier-free access for disabled students beyond individualized academic accommodations is critical. Accommodations do not equal true access for disabled students. Accommodations are retrofits to an inaccessible environment that do not empower us to make changes. As Dolmage (2017) noted, “the nature of the retrofitted accommodation requires that we make no lasting changes to our pedagogy or to the culture.” Further, academic accommodations do not equitably serve disabled students within teaching and learning institutions. Many students who need academic accommodations either do not receive them or do not seek them out. Some scholars have estimated that at least 100,000 postsecondary students in Canada (if not close to 200,000 students) need accommodations but never seek them (Dolmage, 2017). Olson (2015) cited a variety of reasons that prevent students from accessing the required medical documentation to access academic accommodations, including lack of access to medical care, lack of financial means, barriers to adequate healthcare, and documentation.
Moving past a compliance framework to approach accessibility is one way to ensure equity for disabled students. As Harry Paul pointedly asked, “if you recruit disabled students, are they going to feel like their disability is a burden that the school is complying with as it’s the law…or are they going to feel like they are valued for their perspective?” (as cited in Burke, 2020).
Accessibility Committee:
The Accessibility Committee at St. Clair College is responsible for reviewing a wide range of disability issues. This committee also provides advice to the College community on improvements, including compliance with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR). The committee is chaired by the Director of Student Services and includes membership from a cross-section of the College community.
2.1 The College Accessibility Committee shall provide advice and/or recommendations to the Senior Operating Group (SOG) and to the Accessibility Services department on a wide range of disability issues including, but not limited to, funding; physical, attitudinal, and educational barriers; awareness issues; policies; philosophies; etc.
2.2 The Committee shall be a liaison with the following groups: students, faculty, staff, and alumni; local, municipal, provincial, and federal associations, agencies, and service groups; the Provincial College Committee on Disability Issue; and all standing committees at St. Clair College.
Accessibility Committee Documents
Relevant Policies
ST. CLAIR POLICY 1.1.16 ONLINE COURSE MODALITIES & LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMST. CLAIR POLICY 1.1.19 USE OF DIGITAL LEARNING RESOURCESST. CLAIR POLICY 1.3.14 QUALITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ST. CLAIR POLICY 2.4 COLLEGE MISSION STATEMENTST. CLAIR POLICY 2.6 COLLEGE VALUESST. CLAIR POLICY 7.1 CODE OF STUDENT RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIESST. CLAIR POLICY 7.4 STUDENT EQUITY, INCLUSION AND ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES
REFERENCES
Burke, L. (2020, November 12). Disability as diversity. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/11/12/could-disability-be-furt…
Canadian Human Rights Commission. (2017). Left out: Challenges faced by persons with disabilities in Canada’s schools. https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/resources/publications/left-out-challeng…
de Bie, A., & Brown, K. (2017) Forward with flexibility: A teaching and learning resource on accessibility and inclusion. Pressbooks. https://flexforward.pressbooks.com/
Ladau, E., & Potter, C. (2021). Demystifying disability: What to know, what to say, and how to be an ally. Ten Speed Press.
Dolmage, J. (2017). Academic ableism: Disability & higher education. University of Michigan Press.
Olson, S. (2015, July 27). Every student uses your access statement. https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/guest-post-every-studen…
Ontario Human Rights Commission. (n.d.). Main barriers to education for students with disabilities (fact sheet). http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/main-barriers-education-students-disabilities-…
Titchkosky, T. (2011). The question of access: Disability, space, meaning. University of Toronto Press.
Wolbring, G., & Lillywhite, A. (2021). Equity/equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in universities: The case of disabled people. Societies, 11(12), 49. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020049
Acknowledgements: Accessibility and Access; Accessibility, Disability, and EDI; and Accessibility and Education were remixed from the article Why Accessibility by Niagara College licensed under CC BY. Accessibility at St. Clair College, by Irene Stewart, is licensed by St. Clair College CC BY NC SA.