On Jan. 30, the time came once again for students to cast their ballots in the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) elections.
I take my responsibility to vote as an undergraduate student very seriously. On voting day, I went to the polling station just outside Rooster’s Coffeehouse. I was having trouble voting online due to my physical disability—I could not select the candidates because my hands were shaking too much.
I asked the two students sitting at the polling station for assistance and they refused without giving me substantive reasons for denying my request.
The students at the polling station told me that they were not allowed to assist a student in casting their vote. I pushed them further and indicated that if I was voting in a provincial or federal election, they would be required to assist by law. They were non-responsive to this statement of fact.
As a result of their inability or unwillingness to assist me in casting my ballot, I was unable to vote in the most recent student elections.
Some might argue that one vote has little impact on the election results overall. But for me, this issue is bigger than that. I believe that I experienced discrimination when I was denied my right to vote.
I have often said that the voice of students with disabilities is absent within CUSA. It should have a policy that adheres with the Ontario Human Rights Code (OHRC) and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including protection from discrimination based on physical disability.
The very fact that I experienced this exposes a larger systemic problem within CUSA that must be addressed. This will be a true test for the newly-rebranded party that is Students First. How will they deal with what I believe is such a blatant violation of my rights as a student?
I felt humiliated and not valued by my own student association. This is particularly troubling because Carleton claims to be so inclusive towards people with disabilities. On the contrary, I felt that those within the association do not care about what I had to say.
Along the same line, I have made the observation that during elections, I do not often get stopped for my input. Not one representative for Students First actually asked me what I thought during the election campaign. All they wanted to know was whether I voted for them or not.
Meanwhile, a representative from their opponent, Connected Carleton, sought me out and asked me how I thought we could make the Carleton community better for every student. This clearly shows me how removed the newly-elected slate is from the realities facing students and how badly they need an attitudinal shift when it comes to their unconscious biases and policies concerning students with disabilities.
I hope that change comes from me speaking up. We, as students, must hold CUSA accountable, so it is not able to push this issue under the rug. Unfortunately, in some ways, the damage has been done and it cannot be reversed.
I will be watching and waiting to see what—if anything—CUSA does about the discrimination that I faced and their lack of accommodating policies for students with disabilities. I hope that other students watch as well, as actions speak louder than words.
I would also like to see the creation of a new policy and a position created for a disability advisor to avoid situations like this happening again in the future.
Most of all, though, I am looking for an apology for something that never should have happened in the first place.
What happened during the election deeply hurt me, as I thought my university and students’ association was better than this and cared more about the inclusion of all students.
Image by Spencer Colby
