News & Events

The Access Centre is preparing for its biggest move ever.

When the Student Learning Centre (SLC) opens, the Access Centre, which provides services for students with disabilities, will move to a new home there. In anticipation of the move, the Access Centre has begun a strategic planning process to examine its approach to serving students and faculty.

"It's vitally important that the Access Centre for students with disabilities - with the input of stakeholders and students - regularly revisit and revise programs and services to meet the needs of Ryerson students,” said Heather Lane Vetere, vice-provost, students. “The Access Centre's plans to ramp up student success and student learning initiatives tailored to students with disabilities (skills workshops, transition programming, and mentoring) are good ones.  It's the right moment for the Access Centre to make changes that will improve the accommodations process and the accessibility of education, more generally, on campus."

The Access Centre is part of a larger department, Student Learning Support, which includes the Writing Centre, English Language Support Centre, Student Services in the Ted Rogers School of Management, Learning Success Centre and Math Assistance Centre. While facilitating the provision of academic accommodations for students is and will always be a primary function of the Access Centre, its leadership would like to place more emphasis on its education role on campus, particularly with respect to accessible education.

As part of its strategic planning process, the Access Centre is currently collecting input from the Ryerson community about its future directions. Any student registered with the Access Centre is invited to fill out a student satisfaction survey.

The number of students registered with the Access Centre has grown by 25 per cent over the last three years. In particular, more and more students with learning disabilities and mental health issues are registering. Those conditions constitute close to 60 per cent of the disabilities for which students are registered. Such changes to the demographics of students using the service are impacting the role and operation of the Access Centre.

Moving to the new Student Learning Centre is driving the Access Centre’s focus on assuming a more active role in education at Ryerson. The other units within Student Learning Support provide direct learning support to students to ensure their academic success through one-on-one meetings with students, workshops, online learning support materials and workshops. The Access Centre is looking to build programs for direct learning support and student success initiatives, including developing a workshop program for registrants, online resources and supports, learning groups and an enhanced transition and peer-mentoring program.

Other initiatives of the Access Centre include:

·         Reducing barriers for students receiving accommodations.

·         Fostering closer relationships between the Career Centre and the Access Centre to support students as they transition out of their academic programs and into the work world. Workshops, guest speakers, and community liaising will be top priorities.

·         Strengthening bridging programs into high school, particularly grades 11 and 12, to help students with disabilities transition into post-secondary life, identify scholastic and career paths, and prepare to make use of available services.