Self-Advocacy and Accommodations

Many Canadian postsecondary institutions have developed equity, diversity, and inclusion policies (Saltes, 2020; Tamtik & Guenter, 2019), and have offices dedicated to arranging for the provision of formal accommodations (Hill, 1992) to meet the requirements of accessibility laws. Unfortunately, students with disabilities may not have been involved meaningfully in making decisions about accommodations during their K-12 schooling years (Prater et al., 2014) which leaves them ill-equipped to locate, obtain, and advocate for services (Cawthon & Cole, 2010) when they enter postsecondary studies. This may lead to feelings of embarrassment, fear, guilt, and/or shame about seeking assistance for learning or understanding academic integrity expectations (Davis, 2022; Sanni-Anibire et al., 2021). The need for accommodations should not reflect negatively on students’ intellectual capabilities, nor should it be regarded as cheating. On the contrary, seeking support reflects agency, ability to solve problems and set goals, and commitment to learning with integrity. Below are actions that students can take to acquire self-advocacy skills (Covey, n.d.; “Education and Early Childhood Learning”, n.d.; Prater et al., 2014).

Learn about self-advocacy and available accommodations. Self-advocacy involves the processes of ‘self-knowing’ as well as interpreting and navigating the learning environment flexibly and creatively (National Educational Association of Disabled Students [NEADS], 2018). Reflecting on one’s own strengths and challenges as a learner, and identifying the activities, tasks, and assessments that can be accomplished with ease and those that require support to undertake are important to determine which accommodations would be useful to implement (Bruce & Aylward, 2021). Another aspect of self-advocacy involves knowing what types of support for learning and assessment are available at one’s educational institution (see Learning Support 1), understanding the procedures for obtaining accommodations or for requesting those not already offered, and then asking for them. Self-advocacy may feel uncomfortable and intimidating but seeking accommodations to meet learning needs can empower students to influence their learning and outcomes positively.

Ask for accommodations. After needs have been determined, students may first wish to learn how to clearly articulate their challenges and the accommodations that support their learning. Students may find it useful to write down their requests or to ask a friend, family member, or another trusted person to attend meetings with them. In some educational contexts, seeking and implementing accommodations may involve direct communication with the instructor who is being asked to provide accommodations. In other contexts, requests for accommodations must be made formally to student services offices. Students with documented disabilities must often complete or acquire paperwork. This step can be time consuming; therefore, requests for accommodations should be made as soon as possible and before learning challenges feel insurmountable.

For students to acknowledge that accommodations are needed and then seeking that support demonstrates honesty, courage, and responsibility – important values of academic integrity. However, “expecting [all] students to know and be able to articulate their learning needs might be unreasonable,” especially when many instructors, administrators, and other postsecondary staff have not yet achieved such a degree of self-knowledge (Bruce & Aylward, 2021, p. 21).