Accessible Learning Labs

Accommodation in practice

The practice around an individual request, and what design does beforehand to change how often one is needed. Individual cases are decided by accommodation professionals; these resources describe the conditions they inherit.

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Section 1 of four

How this landscape is organized

This is the accessibility work of a learning design practice, gathered in one place. It draws on two branches: Accessibility, which concerns access at the level of an individual person and the obligation an institution holds toward them, and Universal Design for Learning, which concerns designing for the predictable range of learners before any individual request is made. The two are related but not the same, and the arrangement here keeps them distinct while showing where they meet.

Resources are arranged in seven groups by what they are for, rather than by which branch they grow on. A group therefore holds resources from both branches where the question they answer is shared. Each resource names its home branch so the distinction is never lost. Groups are given in alphabetical order, followed by the three engagements that draw on them.

Every resource states the bodies of knowledge it rests on and cites its sources by number to the reference list in Section 4. Every resource on this page is practised; where it is marked as in development, the grounding and sources are settled and the written resource is not yet published.

This landscape zooms into two branches of the learning design practice mapped at andrearobin.com, where the trunk is Groundwork, the learning design method. The contributions here that do not appear on that map are made possible by Fieldwork, the research method practised at Accessible Learning Labs.

Two kinds of relationship are given for each resource. Most related is calculated from sources and themes held in common, and surfaces resources that answer similar questions from different groups. Connected resources are the direct relationships recorded on the map — the resources a reader is likely to need alongside this one.

Section 2 of four

What is here

12 resources in this group — 12 from Accessibility.

Visit the Accommodation in practice page · All seven groups and the engagements in one page

Section 3 of four

Every resource, in full

Sources are written out in full here as well as numbered, so that following a reference is never necessary to understand an entry.

Accommodation in practice

The practice around an individual request, and what design does beforehand to change how often one is needed. Individual cases are decided by accommodation professionals; these resources describe the conditions they inherit.

Designing Out the Disclosure Requirement

Disclosure burden as a design variable

Practised · resource in development

Access that is gated behind disclosure asks a person to name a private matter to someone holding authority over them, and the documented costs of that request are real: anticipated stigma, delay, and for some, a decision not to ask at all. This resource treats disclosure burden as something design can measure and reduce — why a flexible deadline requiring an email is a disclosure event and a built-in buffer is not — while leaving the accommodation record itself where it belongs, with the office that holds it.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Stigma and concealment (Goffman); academic ableism; BC information-governance requirements

Practised in. Flexible timing and asynchronous options at a national technology education provider; built-in accommodations at a national research laboratory

Themes. Disability studies, Access, Equity

Sources

  • Reference 41: Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall.
  • Reference 6: Dolmage, J. T. (2017). Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. University of Michigan Press.
  • Reference 42: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165. Province of British Columbia.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Designing for Episodic and Fluctuating Conditions

Program architecture for conditions that vary

Practised · resource in development

Attendance policy, deadline architecture, cohort progression, and leave-and-return pathways — the structural layer of a problem that individual accommodation handles with difficulty because most systems assume that access requirements are stable. It is program and policy design, offered in the knowledge that disabled people and experienced advisors hold far more understanding of these conditions than the design literature yet reflects.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Episodic disability framework (O’Brien et al.); disability studies

Practised in. Flexible assessment timing at a national technology education provider; flexible pacing at a national research laboratory

Themes. Accommodation, Wellbeing, Access

Sources

  • Reference 43: O’Brien, K. K., Bayoumi, A. M., Strike, C., Young, N. L., & Davis, A. M. (2008). “Exploring Disability from the Perspective of Adults Living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a Conceptual Framework.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6:76.
  • Reference 8: Kafer, A. (2013). Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana University Press.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Working with Accommodation Offices and Access Advisors

Who decides, and what a referral has to carry

Practised · resource in development

What an accommodation office decides, what it requires from an instructor or a designer, and what a referral has to contain to be usable. It covers the implementation gap in which an approved accommodation is recorded and then not delivered, and the boundary between designing conditions and adjudicating an individual case. The second belongs to the advisors and accommodation professionals who hold that work.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. AHEAD program standards; Canadian human rights jurisprudence; disability in higher education

Themes. Accommodation, Policy, Access

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

The Interactive Process in Learning Settings

A shared duty, not a request and a ruling

Practised · resource in development

Canadian human rights law treats accommodation as a process with obligations on every party to it, including the person seeking accommodation, and it sets limits on what may be asked of them. This resource covers who initiates, what good faith requires on each side, what documentation of the process is distinct from documentation of the person, and the points at which the process stalls: no response, an unworkable offer, or a request handled as a complaint.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Renaud (SCC, 1992); Meiorin (SCC, 1999); BC Human Rights Code

Themes. Accommodation, Policy, Access

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Documentation Requirements and Medical Gatekeeping

What is asked of a person before they are believed

Practised · resource in development

What documentation is actually required, set against what institutions routinely request. Cost, waiting time and access to diagnosis are barriers in their own right, and requirements written for stable, diagnosed conditions operate differently for undiagnosed, episodic and fluctuating ones. It covers privacy and custody of records, and the conditions under which self-report is sufficient.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Emerging

Grounding. Disability studies; stigma and disclosure (Goffman); BC information governance

Themes. Accommodation, Disability studies, Equity

Sources

  • Reference 41: Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall.
  • Reference 42: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165. Province of British Columbia.
  • Reference 6: Dolmage, J. T. (2017). Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. University of Michigan Press.
  • Reference 43: O’Brien, K. K., Bayoumi, A. M., Strike, C., Young, N. L., & Davis, A. M. (2008). “Exploring Disability from the Perspective of Adults Living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a Conceptual Framework.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6:76.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Peer Mentorship as Access Infrastructure

Trained peers between the student and the office

Practised · resource in development

Most accommodation systems have two parties, the student and the office; the daily work of access happens between them, often with no one assigned to it. This resource designs the middle: peer mentors trained in integrated learning and technical support, matched to incoming students with accommodations, with clear limits on what a peer decides and a route back to the advisor for what a peer cannot. It is peer-based support, written as program architecture.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Emerging

Grounding. Peer-assisted learning (Topping); accommodation practice standards (AHEAD); communities of practice

Practised in. An art and design university: a peer mentorship program pairing new students with accommodations with mentors trained in integrated learning and technical support

Themes. Accommodation, Community, Capacity

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Reading Disability Documentation

What a report can establish, and what it cannot

Practised · resource in development

A psychoeducational or medical report records a person’s performance on particular instruments at one point in time. An accommodation decision concerns the barriers that person meets in a particular course. The challenge is to read the first without asking it to answer the second by itself. This resource covers what standard scores, percentiles and confidence intervals do and do not establish; the distinction between a diagnosis, a functional limitation and a barrier; the weight professional guidance gives to a student’s own account; and the limits of a clinician’s recommendation as evidence. The reading of an individual file, and the decision that follows from it, rest with the accommodation office.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA & NCME); validity theory (Messick); AHEAD documentation guidance; ICF (WHO, 2001)

Themes. Accommodation, Assessment, Disability studies

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

The Advising Conversation

Trauma-informed, developmental and student-centred

Practised · resource in development

A conversation about access asks a student to describe a disability to someone who holds authority over the outcome. The challenge is to conduct that conversation so that it is safe, clear and useful to the student. This resource sets it out as a designed encounter: how the principles of a trauma-informed approach, among them safety, transparency and choice, are built into its structure; how barriers are asked about without requiring a person to prove themselves again; how the conversation builds the student’s capacity to describe their own access requirements; and where advising ends and counselling begins. It draws on needs-assessment interviewing in learning design and on student development theory.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Trauma-informed approach (SAMHSA); student development theory (Patton et al.); self-advocacy framework (Test et al.); self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci)

Themes. Accommodation, Wellbeing, Equity

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Responding to Distress and Making a Referral

What the person in the room does first

Practised · resource in development

A student may be in acute distress during a conversation about access, and the person present may not be a clinician. The challenge is to respond well within the limits of a non-clinical role. This resource treats the response as a pathway designed in advance: recognising signs of distress, responding calmly, knowing the limits of the role, referring to counselling, health or emergency services, and recording what was done. It also covers what a teaching team needs to know beforehand, and the support needed afterwards by the person who responded.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. National Standard of Canada for post-secondary student mental health (CSA Z2003:20); trauma-informed approach (SAMHSA)

Themes. Wellbeing, Accommodation, Capacity

Sources

  • Reference 78: CSA Group (2020). CSA Z2003:20: Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students. National Standard of Canada.
  • Reference 75: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Reasoning Through an Accommodation Request

Illustrative cases, and the record a decision leaves

Practised · resource in development

Accommodation records are confidential, which limits how the reasoning behind a decision can be taught. This resource uses invented cases, each worked from first contact to a recorded decision: what the barrier is, what the documentation and the person’s own account establish, what the course or program requires, which options were considered, and why one was offered. Each case shows the record the reasoning leaves, including what is written down, what is kept out and who may see it. No case is drawn from a real person. These are teaching cases; decisions in real cases rest with accessibility advisors, accommodation offices and legal counsel.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. The unified test (Meiorin); shared responsibility (Renaud); validity theory (Messick); AHEAD program standards; BC information governance

Themes. Accommodation, Policy, Assessment

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Accommodated Exams and Assessment Logistics

Time, setting, format and integrity

Practised · resource in development

An exam accommodation changes the conditions of an assessment. The challenge is to change the conditions without changing what is measured. This resource covers extended time, separate settings, readers and scribes, assistive technology, alternate formats and deferred sittings; when a condition is part of the construct being measured and when it is not; what the research on extended time does and does not show; how an accommodation carries into group, laboratory and applied exams; and how integrity rules are applied without treating accommodation as grounds for suspicion. It then sets out the logistics on which delivery depends: booking, invigilator training, communication with students and instructors, and the decisions required when timing, technology or a person’s health fails during an exam.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Construct validity (Messick); research on extended time (Lovett; Sokal & Wilson); Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing; UDL action and expression

Practised in. Flexible assessment timing at a national technology education provider

Themes. Accommodation, Assessment, Access

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Funding Routes for Disability-Related Supports and Equipment

Cost as an access barrier

Practised · resource in development

An approved accommodation can depend on something the student has to pay for: an assessment, equipment, software or a service. The challenge is that cost then decides access. This resource maps the funding routes open to post-secondary students in British Columbia, including federal and provincial grants for services and equipment, equipment loan programs and institutional funds: what each covers, who is eligible, and what documentation and disclosure each requires. It also treats the application as a design problem: where a form acts as a barrier, and what a program can do so that a student is not waiting on funding in order to begin.

Group. Accommodation in practice

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. StudentAid BC and Canada Student Grant programs for students with disabilities; AHEAD program standards; stigma and disclosure (Goffman)

Themes. Accommodation, Policy, Equity

Sources

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Section 4 of four

References and resources

The theory, law, and standards these resources are rooted in, listed once and cited by number above. Peer-reviewed, statutory, and institutional sources link directly. Books, reports, and legislation are cited in full so they can be found in any library catalogue or official register.

  1. Assessment73. American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education (2014). Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. American Educational Research Association.
  2. Assessment37. Messick, S. (1995). “Validity of Psychological Assessment: Validation of Inferences from Persons’ Responses and Performances as Scientific Inquiry into Score Meaning.” American Psychologist, 50(9), 741–749.
  3. Assessment79. Lovett, B. J. (2010). “Extended Time Testing Accommodations for Students With Disabilities: Answers to Five Fundamental Questions.” Review of Educational Research, 80(4), 611–638.
    Lovett, B. J. (2010). “Extended Time Testing Accommodations for Students With Disabilities: Answers…
  4. Assessment80. Sokal, L., & Wilson, A. (2017). “In the Nick of Time: A Pan-Canadian Examination of Extended Testing Time Accommodation in Post-secondary Schools.” Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 6(1), 28–62.
    Sokal, L., & Wilson, A. (2017). “In the Nick of Time: A Pan-Canadian Examination of Extended…
  5. Disability classification12. World Health Organization (2001). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). WHO — the source of the biopsychosocial model of disability.
    World Health Organization (2001). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).…
  6. Disability services in higher education74. Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD) (2012). Supporting Accommodation Requests: Guidance on Documentation Practices.
    Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD) (2012). Supporting Accommodation Requests:…
  7. Disability studies6. Dolmage, J. T. (2017). Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. University of Michigan Press.
  8. Disability studies8. Kafer, A. (2013). Feminist, Queer, Crip. Indiana University Press.
  9. Human rights law36. British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Commission) v. BCGSEU, [1999] 3 S.C.R. 3, 1999 CanLII 652 (SCC) — the “Meiorin” decision, establishing the unified bona fide requirement test and accommodation to the point of undue hardship.
    British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Commission) v. BCGSEU, [1999] 3 S.C.R. 3, 1999 CanLII 652…
  10. Human rights law38. Human Rights Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 210. Province of British Columbia.
  11. Disclosure and stigma41. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall.
  12. Information governance42. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165. Province of British Columbia.
  13. Episodic disability43. O’Brien, K. K., Bayoumi, A. M., Strike, C., Young, N. L., & Davis, A. M. (2008). “Exploring Disability from the Perspective of Adults Living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a Conceptual Framework.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6:76.
  14. Health professions education48. Meeks, L. M., & Jain, N. R. (2018). Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education: Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians with Disabilities. Association of American Medical Colleges.
  15. Human rights law56. Central Okanagan School District No. 23 v. Renaud, 1992 CanLII 81 (SCC), [1992] 2 S.C.R. 970 — the shared responsibility of every party to the accommodation process.
    Central Okanagan School District No. 23 v. Renaud, 1992 CanLII 81 (SCC), [1992] 2 S.C.R. 970
  16. Disability services in higher education57. Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD). Program Domains, Standards, and Performance Indicators.
    Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD). Program Domains, Standards, and Performance Indicators
  17. Motivation3. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being.” American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
    Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic…
  18. Peer learning68. Topping, K. J. (2005). “Trends in Peer Learning.” Educational Psychology, 25(6), 631–645.
  19. Self-advocacy77. Test, D. W., Fowler, C. H., Wood, W. M., Brewer, D. M., & Eddy, S. (2005). “A Conceptual Framework of Self-Advocacy for Students with Disabilities.” Remedial and Special Education, 26(1), 43–54.
  20. Social learning53. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.
  21. Student development76. Patton, L. D., Renn, K. A., Guido, F. M., & Quaye, S. J. (2016). Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
  22. Student funding82. StudentAid BC. Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment – Students with Disabilities. Province of British Columbia.
    StudentAid BC. Canada Student Grant for Services and Equipment – Students with Disabilities.…
  23. Student mental health78. CSA Group (2020). CSA Z2003:20: Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students. National Standard of Canada.
  24. Trauma-informed practice75. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884.
  25. Universal Design for Learning2. CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
    CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0

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Every resource on this page reflects applied work carried out with learners, design teams, and partner organizations, and is grounded in the scholarship listed above. An interactive version of this map presents the same content as a navigable diagram.