Questions about accessibility arose at the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) byelection councillors’ debate on March 19, when one candidate was unable to access the stage and no sign language interpretation was available for attendees.
Cameron Jette, a candidate running for a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) councillor position at the debate, did not get onto the raised platform but sat in their walker to speak to the audience. There was no ramp available to access the platform.
“I always kind of giggle at the thought of Carleton being considered one of the leading accessible universities across the world,” they said. “While it does seem very accessible in various ways, the minute you actually need any sort of accommodation, or you need to use a mobility aid, or are deaf, or are blind, it’s actually not a very accommodating campus at all.”
The Charlatan spoke with CUSA council chairman Shawn Humphrey about a lack of accessibility at CUSA events, particularly in Jette’s case. Humphrey also acted as the moderator at the debate.
“It was eye-opening for me, I should’ve looked into that. The stage should have been accessible,” he said. “As somebody with a visible disability myself, I am quite sensitive to this issue, so I’ve already started looking into that for the future. It was embarrassing.”
CUSA events have also been criticized for not having American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters present for the 2017-18 academic year.
According to CUSA president Zameer Masjedee, CUSA has tried to contact several agencies for interpreters, including those from the previous year, but these efforts did not pan out.
“We definitely could have looked harder [for interpreters], we definitely could have tried a couple of other people, but that’s just a shortcoming of this year,” he said. “The hope is that next year, going into the summer months and council, we’re able to find one company that understands what they’re signing up for and be able to provide the service that students need.”
Masjedee said that CUSA also tried to seek help from the Carleton Disability Awareness Centre (CDAC), but this did not work either.
In an emailed statement to the Charlatan, CDAC administrative co-ordinator Céline Brown MacDonald said that the centre is in charge of processing service centre requests for ASL.
“When service centres create events, they generally ask that the student population advise them prior to the event if interpretation is needed,” she said.
Brown MacDonald said the centre’s ASL service providers have advised the CDAC that interpretation should be specifically requested as needed.
“Interpreters would feel their work has more value when provided [to] those who require the service,” she said, adding that interpreters had previously left campus events if no one was in need of interpretation.
But Jette said that they often avoid CUSA events, mainly because they are advertised to be falsely accessible.
“If for whatever reason, like a certain accessibility accommodation isn’t able to [be] provided, I’d want them to be honest about that and to make sure that the people who are coming to these events know that this is gonna be a barrier,” they said. “If I go expecting the event to be accessible because that’s how it’s advertised, then that’s really super negative because then you’re expecting to be able to access this event in a way that everybody else can.”
Ben Williamson, a first-year student with cerebral palsy, said he felt the same way.
“A lot of times, I have seen that clubs and events with CUSA could not do anything [for me] because they didn’t have the funding or the budget to arrange for special transportation, so therefore they couldn’t do it, and I couldn’t attend,” he said. “I’d definitely say that Carleton should pride itself on being as accessible as it is, but I’d also say they still have a long way to go.”
Masjedee stated that Jette’s case is important in highlighting accessibility issues with CUSA events.
“Unfortunately, too many times the accessibility shortcomings become evident when it’s too late,” he said. “In the incident of the councillor debate, it was unfortunately too late for us to properly accommodate for that student, but it never should have been too late.”
