Carleton University has cancelled its Attendant Services Program (ASP) which matches students in need with assistance for the upcoming semester.
In an email to ASP clients in May, ASP executive director Matthew Cole wrote that the current pandemic and safety requirements meant Carleton could not offer the program this fall “in a safe manner.”
Without the program, some Carleton disabled students can’t return to campus and student employees who are trained as personal care workers for ASP are losing their jobs.
Kimberley Chiasson is a fourth-year journalism student and ASP client who is spearheading the advocacy surrounding accessibility concerns on campus by increasing students’ awareness through an Instagram account and representing ASP clients in legal negotiations.
Chiasson is one of a group of ASP clients who started the account @CUCare.Act to give more context as to why the ASP closure matters. The account updates students about how they can support disabled students and accessibility on campus.
“There will be a lot of opportunities for the student body to help us out in the next month or two,” Chiasson said.
Chiasson estimated that the program has around 20 clients at Carleton, without counting incoming students, and extends support to students at Algonquin College who depend on the service as well. Carleton officials said they could not provide the Charlatan with the number of students who rely on the program.
Chiasson told the Charlatan there was no effort from the university to survey how many students needed the program and how a shut down would impact ASP clients.
Sydney Weaver, a fourth-year communications and human rights student, spoke to CTV News on behalf of students who need the program to attend school in-person. Weaver, who has cerebral palsy, said the program allowed her the independence to live in residence away from her hometown of Guelph, Ont.
During her first two years at Carleton, Weaver said attendants helped her facilitate basic needs such as going to the cafeteria and doing her laundry.
Jay Baldwin is an ASP client going into their third year of women and gender studies at Carleton. The service is “completely and utterly necessary” for them to attend class, Baldwin said.
“[The ASP staff] get meals set up for me, make sure I’m all ready to go to class and have everything I need,” Baldwin said.
“[ASP] is actually the reason I applied to Carleton because Carleton is the only university in Canada with a program like this,” Weaver said in an interview with the Charlatan. “The program was amazing and I had independence, and they’re not doing it anymore.”
Cancelling the program restricts access to campus which forces students to continue their semester online, if possible, or pause their education altogether if the required courses are not offered remotely.
Chiasson and Baldwin are able to continue their classes online in the fall, but both said they knew several students who were less fortunate.
“I know a number of students don’t have online accommodations so they’re not getting credits this year. I myself don’t even know if I’ll be able to get all the credits,” Chiasson said. “I’m just trying my classes online and seeing how it goes, and if I find it too overwhelming, I’m going to have to withdraw.”
Weaver said not being able to attend her in-person classes this fall means she will miss out on opportunities including class discussions and collaborative projects.
“On my timetable and on my class selection list, [my course descriptions] say ‘in-person only, not suitable for online students’,” Weaver said. “I have a program where we’re using software and algorithms and I don’t get to have that participation.”
Steven Reid, a spokesperson for Carleton, wrote in an email to the Charlatan saying the program had been cancelled “due to the health and safety concerns in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Weaver said she wanted further clarity from the university as to why ASP could not resume while events such as the Panda game are set to take place this year.
After students were informed of the program’s cancellation in March 2020, Chiasson said ASP clients did not receive any updates until May 2021 when the university told them that it would not be resuming the program in the fall semester.
Chiasson said she felt her excitement about returning to campus had been cut short.
“We were hearing all the signs that campus was reopening, so we were assuming that [ASP] would start up,” Chiasson said. “A couple weeks later, we got the email confirming that it was shut down before we even knew what next year would look like.”
Carleton hopes to resume the program next semester, according to Reid.
A previous version of this article stated Kimberley Chiasson started the @CUCare.Act account. In fact, Chiasson was one of a group of ASP clients who started the account. This article was last updated on Sept. 12.
Featured image provided.
