RESISTANCE TO ACCOMMODATIONS : WALK THE WALK... don't just.... TALK THE TALK

Under section 29 of the Ontario Human Rights Code (the "code"), the Ontario Human Rights Commission (the "OHRC") has a mandate to forward human rights policy through education, monitoring, communication, research, inquiries and initiating investigations.

Under Section 1 of the Code, education is defined as a "service".

"Every person has the right to equal treatment with respect to services,

goods and facilities, without discrimination because of ... handicap."

Most, if not all, academic institutions recognize their obligations to insure equal accessto education for students with disabilities.  All of their published websites TALK THE TALK and acknowledge their individual obligations to accommodate persons with disabilities, which necessarily include both physical disabilities and learning disabilities. The realist inside me knows, full well, that there is a bit of Government arm-twisting going on here. In the arena of learning disabilities, the pushback manifests itself as rationalized refusal to accept certain professionally prescribed accommodations.  

The accommodation of learning disabilities, disabilities that are not strikingly visibly apparent, can be particularly challenging due to the fact that they are hidden.  Unfortunately, the accommodation of students with learning disabilities has been historically contentious, particularly in the area of testing and examinations. The standard unfair advantage phobia will generally not arise in response to benign test accommodation requests, such as the provision of a quiet room for test writing, or the use of reading or dictation software. It will more likely arise in regards to more contentious issues such as spelling accommodation and the prescribed use of memory aids. The typical rational given for the accommodation refusal relates to a stated concern that the granting of the accommodation will 
undermine or otherwise compromise the validity, or reliability of the test or exam.

In order to address this reluctance, it is imperative to both understand the purpose of the accommodation and to clarify exactly what is the skill that is being tested.  Each situation must be examined on a case-by-case basis, keeping in mind the human rights requirement for equal access and equal treatment in the provision of the subject education services.  The fundamental issue is whether the prescribed accommodation allows the accommodated student to demonstrate what they 

have learned, in ways that bypass or circumvent the features of their disability; the intention is to not lower the testing result standard for accommodated students. Central to this determination is the need to understand exactly what skill is being tested.

By way of example, let us have a quick look at spelling accommodation, the refusal of which can be 
a door closer for many students. Without getting technical as to the deficits in information processing 
or psychological processes that underlie spelling difficulties, let us just start with the proposition that some students cannot spell, will never be taught to spell and will likely be primarily phonetic spellers, for the rest of their lives.

Does the following statement issued by the student disability department of a prominent Canadian university, concern you?

"Consideration for Spelling

In some courses, such as language and biology, faculty may determine that the ability to spell course specific terms and vocabulary is a requirement of the course.  As such, students with disabilities are expected to demonstrate the ability and may not be accommodated for spelling on a test or exam."

If this were my child who was being denied, it would most certainly concerns me.

Assuming that mastering a biology course is a condition precedent to entering medical sciences, the inability to spell may be a door closer barring the learning disabled student from numerous medical science related careers.

Just because my child presents the word amoeba phonetically as "omeeba" but can clearly express orally, the fact, that he fully comprehends the fact that an "omeeba" consists of unicellular organisms that do not have a definite shape, does that mean that he has not mastered the underlying skill of understanding the building blocks of all organisms?

Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

The same pushback often times arises in regards to reluctance to allow memory aids in the form of formula sheets. Is it acceptable for a university to state that a student's ability to memorize formulas is an essential course requirement that cannot be accommodated because it would undermine the academic integrity of the course? If that is the case, the student who cannot memorize formulas, will be similarly precluded from a number of professional career pursuits.