Accessibility Services

Our Mission

In Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities, we help students with documented disabilities find the supports they need to reach their educational goals.

We recognize that the impact of disabilities can make attending College more challenging. We are committed to working with you to maximize the accessibility of your learning experience at our college. The supports offered through Accessibility Services are intended to ensure that you, as a student with a disability, can participate fully in your course or program.

We work collaboratively with you and your instructors to remove barriers and foster learning by providing access to reasonable academic accommodations and other learning supports so that the learning environment is more responsive to your abilities and learning needs.

What is a Disability?

Disabilities can include a range of medical/health situations.

• Students may experience physical, cognitive, developmental, learning, sensory (ex., visual, hearing), and mental health related disabilities or medical conditions that have an impact on the way they learn or their ability to demonstrate their knowledge.
• Disabilities may be permanent or temporary. For example, a student may temporarily access services while they use a wheelchair to recover from a motor-vehicle accident.
• Disabilities can be visible to others, such as someone who is visually-impaired who uses a white cane or service dog, or invisible, such as someone who experiences anxiety or a learning disability. 

What to Expect From Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities

In Accessibility Services, expect to find an open, respectful environment. We are here to learn from you about your educational goals and to work together with you to develop a plan that will support your educational experience. As such, we work together as a team with you, instructors, college staff members, and community members to support your learning. We value a proactive solution-based approach, and recognize that every student’s situation, experiences, and goals are unique.

We recognize that the information you share about your disability or medical condition is private. This information remains confidential.

What Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities Offers

For students with a documented disability, Accessibility Services offers a wide variety of helpful academic accommodations, and other supports and resources crafted to meet your unique needs. Accessibility Services are available on all campuses and Extension Centres.

Please note that your eligibility for academic accommodations is based on the information provided in your documentation of disability (please see Documentation of Disability for more details on our documentation requirements).

Services available include:

• Transition planning support: whether you are graduating from high school, have been away from school for some time, or are planning a new educational or career direction
• Information on student funding and grants for students with disabilities
• Connections to learning and counseling supports at the college
• Facilitating conversations between you and your instructors to address disability-related barriers or concerns
• Information on relevant community resources and supports
• Information about assistive technology to help you learn, such as text to speech or voice dictation software
• Supports and information for instructors, college staff members, and families

Potential Academic Accommodations include:

• Access to textbooks and study resources in different formats, like e-texts or audio
• Exam supports to decrease distractions and support exam-writing success
• Classroom supports such as note takers, audio recording lectures, and specialized seating
• Access to adaptive technology to assist you in completing course readings, assignments and exams

What Accessibility Services Values

Respect, Diversity, Openness, Collaboration, Caring