11 Practices by individual student accessibility services advisors
“I think the challenge is trying to do something that’s systemic and proactive verses relying on what I would say [is] more reactive work around an accommodation” – Amanda K. (access adviser)
Individual access advisors are making efforts to move beyond individual accommodations as responses to systemic ableism. These access leaders are working to redirect institutional resources toward systemic and proactive solutions. By embedding a base level of access in course design and the regular operations of the university, student accessibility services advisors are working to reduce the burden placed on students to hack access in racist and ableist post-secondary education settings.
Yet, individual advisors doing their best to implement systemic solutions to address ableism are under-resourced. Interviewees shared with us that systemic interventions are often not possible under institutional constraints. Student accessibility services are often understaffed with large caseloads, leaving individual advisors ill-equipped to support institutional approaches to academic access. Access advisor Navi Dhanota explained the impacts: I burn out, right? This is what happens to people in the system.
As access adviser Amanda K. explained, the ways we understand and practice accessibility in the university must shift beyond “individual accommodations [because] if that’s all we do, that’s all we’ll ever do”. Instead, a big part of the work must be about “bringing other people on board with the campus philosophy, the campus commitment [to accessibility], to make sure they are purchasing things that are accessible, that they’re renovating things with a higher level of access” and more (Amanda).