UW looks to lead on accessible learning, learning about accessibility

The Government of Ontario says it's investing in a more accessible and inclusive future, and it looks like this region and the University of Waterloo may help lead the way.

The province has committed $400,000 in funding through the EnAbling Change Program for four projects in Southwestern Ontario, two of which are being run out of UW.

That includes more than $220,000 split almost evenly between a project aimed at better integrating universal design standards into student learning across Canadian Schools of Architecture as well as a project aimed at producing new resources to help address accessibility needs in building post-secondary schools of the future.

“We should remember post-secondary institutions, they're kind of unique,” said Stepanka Elias, executive director of plant operations at the University of Waterloo. “We're not just a school, office building, retail, food, gym — we are all of it and in many places it's all under the same roof.”

That also means the University of Waterloo and other post-secondary institutions have a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of not just accessible learning abut also learning about accessibility.

As for the buildings themselves, Elias says there needs to be a shift in thinking when it comes to accessibility away from mere measurements designers need to keep in mind like the slope of ramps, turning radii, counter height, etc., toward a comprehensive pillar of design itself.

“This will also bring together other considerations like practicality, accessibility, [and] sustainability so instead of working on three competing priorities we can move forward on a mutually beneficial solution,” Elias said, pointing to renovations made in 2017 to a student centre at Ryerson University as an example of how, even when you do everything right, it can still turn out wrong.”

“It's a beautiful, gorgeous building and it complies with every one of the accessibility requirements that you could imagine except, in the middle of the staircase there's this beautiful column so when students come up — and it happened on opening day — people run into the column because it's not something you can anticipate.”

Elias says designers need to make sure all the individual pieces of a project fit together properly, and that's also where re-framing how accessibility is taught to future designers and architects can make a major difference.

“To really, truly integrate [accessibility issues] into student learning so for this coming generation of  architects, it's second nature to think about accessibility when they approach any project,” said Anne Bordeleau, an architect and professor at UW's School of Architecture. 

“It is sad to say but we have to admit that we currently do not seem to be doing such a great job which is, in fact, kind of what prompted this project, and there are real opportunities to improve.”