UW’s Disability Inclusion Steering Committee (DISCo) submits its final report to the Provost, detailing further steps to take in making education accessible to all.

The Disability Inclusion Steering Committee (DISCo) is an advisory committee created in 2022 to evaluate and provide guidance on removing barriers to success in post-secondary education for those with disabilities. The committee aims to provide quality recommendations so that UW can adhere to the 2022 Postsecondary Education Standards developed for the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005 (AODA), which requires organizations in the province be accessible to those who identify as having disabilities.

The Standards present 185 recommendations, along with timelines for postsecondary institutions to establish and implement policies that address barriers in education faced by those with disabilities. These items cover ways to incorporate accessibility and sufficient accommodations into how an institution operates, from more inclusive language in graduate student job offer letters to allowing flexible completion times for degrees and options for virtual learning.

Co-chaired by university leaders, including the Dean of the Faculty of Health, DISCo currently consists of executive members from Campus Accessibility, Strategic Initiatives and Internal and Leadership Communications. The committee’s final report lists achievements on this goal, such as launching UW’s Accessible Education initiative and creating a Physical Accessibility Specialist role within UW’s Plant Operations to help inform on accessible building design.

Both the provincial Postsecondary Standards report and DISCo’s final report note that accessibility is often treated as an “add-on” or extension of current policies, rather than an inherent part of university policies, practices and education. Persons who identify as having disabilities face not only the barriers of existing policies being insufficient to help them succeed, but also social and cultural barriers such as assumptions and prejudices due to ableism in the public sphere. DISCo’s report notes that progress in furthering accessibility at UW must include cultural change around the idea of inclusion at UW, in addition to a holistic, persistent, and collaborative approach among institutional leadership.

The report concludes with five recommendations for furthering the university’s commitment to accessible education. Notable recommendations include integrating accessibility into university budget planning rather than a separate special initiative, and maintaining the ongoing Accessible Education project at UW, established by the Teaching Innovation Incubator (TII). This initiative helped facilitate the course “The Wicked Problem of Accessibility,” planned by graduate students over winter 2025 and held this term as a multidisciplinary elective.

More information on the committee can be found on their page here. The full report with additional details can be found here.