1. Judith Brooder, Manager Student Accessibility Services
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Finding Balance:
Academic Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities and Academic Requirements
Judith Brooder, Manager
Student Accessibility Services

2. Agenda Highlights Emerging Issues and Developments
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Agenda Highlights
Emerging Issues and Developments
Accommodation Decision Tree
Duty to Accommodate
Essential Requirements
Questions

3. Student Accessibility Services
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Student Accessibility Services
Service area within Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre;
Review documentation and assess student needs/requests;
Consider course/program;
Determine and facilitate appropriate accommodation options;
Provide support services;
Liaise with faculty and staff.

4. Emerging Issues and Developments
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Emerging Issues and Developments
Increase in students, invisible disabilities, and complexity of diagnosis;
Expansion of the definition of “disability”;
OHRC’s increased focus on accessibility in education;
OHRC scrutinizing and actively mandating activities of post-secondary institutions.

5. Our Collective Role…. Embrace Brock’s commitment to access and equity;
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Our Collective Role….
Embrace Brock’s commitment to access and equity;
Ensure Brock meets its legal duty to accommodate;
Ensure Brock is free from systemic discrimination;
Maintain the academic integrity of university programs.

6. Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Your Role …
Consult and provide advice during a review of an accommodation request to assist in developing accommodation alternatives;
Provide an opportunity for all instructors to familiarize themselves with University Human Rights and Equity Policies and the accommodation process.

7. Are Essential Requirements maintained?
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Accommodation Decision Tree Adapted from Accommodation Decision Tree © Barbara L. Roberts 2006
YES
NO/STOP
Strategy
Instruction
Are Essential Requirements maintained?

8. Is There a Disability ? OHRC Definition of Disability
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Is There a Disability ?
OHRC Definition of Disability
Any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness;
A condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability;
A learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language;
A mental disorder; or
An injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received.

9. Expanding Definition of Disability
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Expanding Definition of Disability
Accommodation guidelines now include:
Temporary health conditions;
Requests for accommodation pending supporting documentation;
Retroactive accommodation;
Diagnosis not required, BUT
DO require documentation of functional impact.

10. Barriers to Participation
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Barriers to Participation
Accommodations remove and prevent barriers for students with disabilities that may interfere with the opportunities for full participation in the learning environment.
Accommodations are individualized and can change over time.

11. Appropriate Accommodation
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Appropriate Accommodation
“An appropriate accommodation at the post-secondary level would enable a student to successfully meet the essential requirements of the program, with no alteration in the standards or outcomes, although the manner in which the student demonstrates mastery, knowledge and skills may be altered” (OHRC, 2004, p. 24).

12. Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Duty To Accommodate
Duty to accommodate to the point of “undue hardship.”
Only three considerations when assessing undue hardship:
Cost;
Outside sources of funding, if any;
Health and safety requirements, if any.
However….

13. Essential Requirements
Student Wellness and Accessibiilty Centre
Essential Requirements
Limitations to accommodation may be permissible if based on a bona fide academic requirement (BFAR) as determined by the Commission.
The essential requirements for the course or program remain constant in the accommodation process.

14. What is an Essential Requirement?
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
What is an Essential Requirement?
Those components in a curriculum that are “indispensable, vital and very important” (OHRC).
“Knowledge and skills that must be acquired or demonstrated in order for a student to successfully meet the learning objectives of that course or program” (Rose, 2009).

15. Determining Essential Requirements
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Determining Essential Requirements
Asking the right questions: 1
What is the nature of the required task? 2
Does it have to be done in only one way? 3
If so, why?
BFAR statement. 4
What is being tested?
Roberts, B.L. (2013). A Lifeline for Disability Planning: How Models of Disability and Human Rights Principles Inform Accommodation and Accessibility Planning (Doctoral dissertation).

16. Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
The Fairness Issue…
Equity means treating different people differently.
“Fair” may not mean “the same.”

17. Accommodation vs. Accessibility From Reactive to Pro-active
Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Moving Forward
Accommodation vs. Accessibility
From Reactive to Pro-active
Pro-active strategies:
Determine essential requirements;
Follow principles of Universal Instructional Design (UID) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

18. Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Questions

19. Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre
Resources
Brock’s Centre for Pedagogical Innovation.
OHRC Guidelines on Accessibly Education.
Senate Policy on Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities, content/uploads/sites/43/Academic-Accomodation-for-Students- with-Disabilities.pdf
Please also visit our Sharepoint page for more information and Faculty Resources: