2 Calls to action

1. High cost to students of accessing education

• Target HEI policies
  • Pressure HEIs to decrease part-time tuition fees so that taking a reduced course load is a more viable option

• Increase government funding for students with disabilities
  • Pressure OSAP to increase funding for the BSWD

• Target ODSP policies
  • Pressure ODSP to allow for simultaneous OSAP funding
    • Actually this is now possible, but…

• • • • Unclear if you have to already be on ODSP to get both?

• • • • Also if being on ODSP means less OSAP?

• • • • Do students know about this option?

• • • • Still room for improvement, but needs to be reworked

• • Pressure ODSP to allow for higher incomes

• • Pressure ODSP to offer a grace period in which people with disabilities can earn full-time wages while also receiving disability payment

2. Inadequate resourcing in HEI for access and other supporting professionals

• Shift values/priorities within the government
  • Increase motivation for ensuring accessible learning in order to secure additional resources

• • See #3

• Shift values/priorities within HEI
  • Increase motivation for ensuring accessible learning in order to secure additional resources

• • See #3

• Target policies within HEI
  • Increase the student fees that support accessible learning

3. Ableist culture and stigma

• Improve training and education
  • Mandate training where appropriate

• • Share/enhance existing resources

• • Create new training programs

• • Develop continuing education courses

• Increase funding for placement sites
  • Offer incentives to employers for creating more equitable and accessible work environments

• Implement policies that promote accessibility within placement sites
  • Change hiring processes to allow for greater representation of students and healthcare workers with disabilities

• Build anti-ableist network
  • Develop social media campaign ex. Nurses in wheelchairs
    • Shift idea of people with disabilities as deserving of rights towards recognizing their unique value

• • • Combat the idea of people with disabilities as a liability

• • Promote interdisciplinary collaboration
    • Bring together different institutions, committees, ministries

• • • Create spaces where students, HEI, and clinical professionals can have judgment-free conversations about disability

• Address ableism in regulatory bodies ex. College of nurses
  • Amend current standards of practice

• Change the physical environment of placement sites

• Provide space to keep scooters, walkers, and other mobility devices
  • Ensure accessible entrances, elevators, and washrooms

• • Offer kitchen space to heat food and socialize

• • Designate certain spaces for mental health, meditation, and rest

• • Offer students the flexibility to work from home

4. Lack of communication at the structural level

Justification: Communication is required between HEI and clinical sites, but these two parties have different priorities and levels of power in the relationship. HEI needs something from the clinical sites ie for them to teach students, but the clinical sites do not have the same need for the students and they are not responsible for students’ access needs. As a result, HEI institutions do not feel like they can ask for very much from the sites, and the sites do not have a lot of motivation to go out of their way to provide accommodations.

5. Lack of support for students during the accommodations process

• Improve education and training
  • Mandate training where appropriate

• • Share/enhance existing resources

• • Create new training programs

• • Develop continuing education courses

• Ensure support at all stages of placements: before, during, and after
  • Allow for site visits beforehand

• • Offer more checkpoints throughout placements

• • Develop a platform for students to give feedback to sites post-placement

• Ensure better matches between students and placement sites
  • Allow for site visits beforehand

• Connect students with disabilities to one another
  • Implement peer support groups

• • Implement mentorship programs

• Reduce the labour for students with disabilities wishing to engage in WIL
  • Change HEI policies to allow for a greater number of coursework extensions

• • Put pressure on HEIs to decrease part-time tuition fees so that taking a reduced course load is a more viable option

• • Hire disability clinicians with the authority to implement accommodations as issues arise, with or without an official diagnosis

6. Time- and labour-intensive accommodations process

Justification: The current accommodations process is difficult to navigate for both faculty and students, and it requires a lot of communication between bodies that may not naturally talk to one another.

• Improve the existing process
• • Facilitate better communication between stakeholders

• • Sign posting

• • Create a simplified decision tree/road map for students

• • Speed up the grant/bursary process

• • Improve the disclosure process

• • • Keep documentation on file

• • • Ensure that accommodations remain consistent across institutions

• Investigate and/or advocate for alternative processes
  • Hire disability clinicians to address the burdens of acquiring documentation

• • Implement an intermediary body
    • Clarify roles

• • • Communicate between placement sites and accessibility services

• • • Provide better training

• • • Hire disability clinicians

• • • Ensure ethical and consistent practices

• • • Simplify the accommodations process

• • • Arrange accommodations prior to placement

• • Investigate non-disclosure routes