The Postsecondary Education Standards Development Committee (PESDC) 2022 Final Report identified nine barriers to access. Biweekly, ALS will be doing a deep dive into the barriers and recommendations identified.  

The recommendations were founded upon principles that accessibility efforts should be proactive, that all areas of an institution have a shared responsibility in promoting access and that students need to navigate a transparent and seamless system. 

This week’s focus is on barriers in the social realm of campus life.  

The report discussed the following: 

• Students with disabilities often cannot engage in campus life, leadership roles that influence campus decisions, or are restricted in their choice of educational institutions.  

• They often lack accessible, meaningful and predictable programming that allows for their active participation in campus life.

Recommendations from the report included: 

• Postsecondary institutions shall fund accessibility supports, such as sign language interpreting and attendant services, for students with disabilities to enable their access and participation in leadership roles on governance bodies and to enable their access and participation in on-campus, non-academic activities. 

• Postsecondary institutions, student governments, and student unions/societies shall adopt policies and procedures that proactively seek to engage and appoint learners with disabilities to their governance bodies. 

• Postsecondary institutions shall develop new programming or improve existing programming to enhance student life satisfaction for students with disabilities.  

The full report is available online

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.