It Took A Pandemic To Prove What Students With Disabilities Wanted For Years Is Possible
This story is part of Learning Curve, a HuffPost Canada series that explores the challenges and opportunities for students, faculty and post-secondary institutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
When universities moved online in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it marked the advancement of something students with disabilities have been requesting for years: more accommodations and support.
Third-year York University computer science student Arnab Hossain has Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that can cause severe abdominal pain. He said once or twice a week he usually arrives to class late or has to leave in the middle of a lecture because of the pain. When his winter courses moved online, he was able to watch lectures from his bed, where he was more comfortable.
“This pandemic has really showed some universities are capable, technologically capable, to run courses online and in person,” he told HuffPost Canada. “I think this is going to open up a lot of doors.”
While the move to online learning has been a welcome shift for many, it has also been disappointing to see workplaces and institutions suddenly pivot to offering the same accommodations that people with disabilities have historically asked for and been denied, said Kelly Johnson, the founder of Completely Inclusive, which offers accessibility consulting services.
“It’s kind of really blatant in your face, the fact that companies just didn’t want to, or schools just didn’t want to [help students with disabilities],” she told HuffPost.
A 2018 report from the National Educational Association of Disabled Students and a team of Canadian researchers suggests that although there are good faith efforts to improve accessibility for students with disabilities in post-secondary education, these efforts have lagged behind technological advances.
The number of post-secondary students who have disabilities has “increased tremendously” over the past 30 years, the report...
