Carleton University prides itself on being one of the most inclusive schools in Canada. It boasts the Paul Menton Centre for students with disabilities, a sprawling underground tunnel system and a minor in disability studies, to name a few of its accomplishments.
But the institution still falls short in several critical areas — leaving students with disabilities to pick up its slack.
In January 2024, a student who uses a wheelchair said she felt her access was “an afterthought” when a water main break left her without access to attendant services, which she requires to shower.
In an October incident, a Carleton student sustained an injury when an automatic door didn’t stay open for long enough for them to pass through in their wheelchair.
While the university acted swiftly, adding six seconds to the door’s timer within a day of the student’s report, the student rightly said it was unfair that the burden of reporting fell on them.
Plus, Carleton researchers found most washrooms on campus fall short of students’ real-life accessibility needs, from audio and visual fire alarms to adult changing tables.
Accessibility issues don’t end with getting students into the classroom (or the bathroom), either. Community members have previously sounded the alarm about systemic accessibility issues with the online platform Carleton Central and on-campus mental health resources.
For students with disabilities, these shortfalls add up. While the work Carleton students are doing to hold the university to account is commendable, the burden of investigating campus accessibility issues should rest squarely on the university’s shoulders.
All Carleton students should be free to enjoy their time on campus without fear of accessibility concerns, and without needing to invest time and energy into navigating cumbersome processes like the Coordinated Accessibility Strategy.
Though these issues are admittedly complicated, the university would do well to invest further in proactively exploring how it treats community members with disabilities.
For one, the university should financially compensate students with disabilities for their feedback on campus issues.
That way, students with disabilities would have an easier time sharing their vulnerable experiences on campus on top of their academic and extracurricular commitments.
That kind of investment would also make clear to students with disabilities that their voices have intrinsic value.
Though the university has already made some clear and admirable progress on accessibility issues, it still has a long road ahead.
If Carleton wants to continue calling itself “one of Canada’s most accessible universities,” it should start putting its money where its mouth is.
Featured graphic from files.
