In 2017, a committee consisting of representatives from community organizations and 12 Ontario colleges and universities were tasked with identifying barriers for post-secondary learners with disabilities and developing recommendations.
The Government of Ontario formed the Postsecondary Education Standards Development Committee as a requirement of the Accessibility for Ontarians Disability Act (AODA), 2005.
The Postsecondary Education Standards Development Committee (PESDC) 2022 Final Report identified nine barriers and 185 recommendations. Biweekly, ALS will be doing a deep dive into the barriers and recommendations. This is the first installment of this eight-part series.
The nine main barriers were: 1. General overarching barriers; 2. Attitudes, behaviours, perceptions, assumptions; 3. Awareness and training; 4. Assessment, curriculum, and instruction; 5. Digital learning and technology; 6. Organizational barriers; 7. Social realms, campus life; 8. Physical and architectural barriers; 9. Financial barriers.
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General Overarching Barriers:
These are barriers that may prevent the implementation and future success of the proposed standards. One of these overarching barriers is that students with disabilities are often considered after the fact during policy development and budgetary decision-making. Secondly, postsecondary institutions and ministries tend to work independently rather than collaboratively which could prevent effective implementation of the standards.
The following recommendations address this barrier:
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When modifying or implementing programs and services for people with disabilities, the Ministry will first conduct a review to determine if, or how, the program would impact postsecondary students with disabilities
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The provincial government must demonstrate their commitment to supporting students with disabilities and accessible postsecondary education. One way is to provide funding to institutions and students to help meet the goals of the postsecondary education accessibility standards.
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The Ontario government shall continue to advocate with the federal government through their federal/provincial tables to ensure both are working towards the same goals of access for students with disabilities.
The full report is available:
Visit our ALS Information for Faculty website to learn more about accommodating students with disabilities.
Please email us at accessible-learning@humber.ca with suggestions for key accessibility-related topics that you would like us to address through the Communiqué.