{"id":51408,"date":"2018-11-05T14:41:05","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T19:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=51408"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:28:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:28:56","slug":"accessible-workplaces","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/accessible-workplaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Accessible Workplaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Creating Accessible Workplaces\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

In 2009, Rebecca Andre, now a second-year Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies<\/a> student at Carleton University, began experiencing the symptoms of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension<\/a>, a rare progressive fatal illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was right in the middle of my college career,\u201d she says. \u201cI finished, but the last year was miserable. I was 21 years old and right when everyone else is about to start their lives, all of a sudden I was in and out of the hospital and that was my life, that was <\/em>my start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After four years, Andre\u2019s illness was finally diagnosed and she began to undergo proper treatment and rehabilitation in 2014. It was around this time she decided: \u201cI need to own my life again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI progressively started to stretch my wings,\u201d she says. \u201cI realized I still had the passion for learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

She started volunteering and enrolled in a college preparation program, eyeing a degree at Carleton. In 2017, she arrived on campus and began to take on her future like never before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I got my first A, I bawled like a baby,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI was in the library and I had a complete breakdown . . .  it was so validating that I had done the right thing coming back to school. I knew I was on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While finding her way back into the post-secondary system was a big step for Andre, getting back into the workforce was a whole other story. But thanks to the Carleton University Accessible Experiential Learning (CUAEL) Project<\/a>, Andre is making her way into the working world and she couldn\u2019t be more excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CUAEL project was launched in May 2018 as an initiative that helps students with disabilities excel in their careers and build on the monumental contributions people with disabilities make to society.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI feel on fire right now; I feel like I\u2019m ready to take over the world,\u201d Andre says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Andre works in Carleton\u2019s Student Experience Office (SEO)<\/a>, which provides extracurricular experiences for students, such as summer and fall orientation programs and the alternative spring break with a roster of volunteer opportunities. The SEO also helps new students transition to life at Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe CUAEL program is a really important part of the quality of my life,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt brought back my confidence, it increased my self-esteem, it gives me another way to get out in the world and, most important of all, it makes me feel like I\u2019m a contributing member of society again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Creating<\/figure>\n\n\n

Addressing a Gap in the Workforce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAt Carleton, students with disabilities are graduating on par with the general student population, but there still seems to be a gap when it comes to entering the workforce,\u201d says Amanda Bettencourt<\/a>, senior special project officer at the CUAEL project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility issues and stigma, along with exclusive workplaces, create serious barriers to the work experience for students with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the most unfortunate things would be if you get to an interview for a job, you get to the job site, you\u2019re five minutes early and you can\u2019t get up to where it is you\u2019re going. Maybe there\u2019s no elevator, maybe you need a code . . . maybe you can\u2019t even see that it exists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creating
Amanda Bettencourt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CUAEL works with employers to explore where barriers may exist and how to create accessible workplaces. Employers interested in learning more about the program, or those looking to become an Employer Champion<\/a> with the CUAEL project, can create partnerships now for part-time positions in the winter 2019 term, as well as part-time and\/or full-time positions for the summer 2019 term. Interested parties may contact Amanda Hodgson<\/a>, CUAEL\u2019s business development officer, to discuss how to become a CUAEL partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe job opportunities for persons with disabilities are very, very limited,\u201d says Kawsar Mohamed, a Human Rights and Social Justice<\/a> student at Carleton in the CUAEL program.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s rarely bad intentions . . . but it\u2019s almost like a fear of not understanding a person and their disability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is where the CUAEL project comes in \u2014 the program aims to bridge the gap between education and the workforce, transforming skillsets developed at Carleton into employment opportunities. At its heart, the CUAEL project will strive to connect 300 students with disabilities to subsidized experiential learning opportunities, hands-on learning placements that prepare students for the transition to work in their prospective fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is educate students on the disclosure process and the resources students and their employers need to ensure they\u2019re accommodated,\u201d Bettencourt explains. \u201cLet\u2019s create inclusive environments and accessible workplaces so that maybe in the future someone would not have to initially disclose that they have a disability or have something that needs to be accommodated, because it\u2019s not just built into the [physical] structure but into the way a business is run as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Creating<\/figure>\n\n\n

Accessible Workplaces Benefit Everyone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Through the CUAEL program, Mohamed is working with Community First: Impacts of Community Engagement (CFICE)<\/a> as an administrative research assistant on campus. CFICE is a research project studying how community and campus players can work together to positively impact their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis program is excellent because it gives you the experience you need to venture out there . . .  It\u2019s been a very positive experience,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Moreover, Bettencourt says that making workplaces accessible and mindful of disabilities benefits everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a depressed curb, for example, doesn\u2019t just help someone with an [assistive device], but someone with a stroller, someone pushing a shopping cart, the elderly . . . It goes beyond persons with disabilities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is taking off thanks to an $800,000 grant from the provincial government\u2019s Career Ready Fund<\/a>. The campaign to bring the funding to Carleton was a joint effort between two campus departments: the Paul Menton Centre (PMC),<\/a> and Carleton\u2019s Career Services<\/a> office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creating
Dean Mellway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dean Mellway is a special adviser to the Research, Education, Accessibility and Design (READ) initiative<\/a>, a program designed to highlight, celebrate and cultivate Carleton\u2019s expertise, leadership and collaboration with the community to create greater accessibility and a more inclusive world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mellway says that after doing some background research to pinpoint where the fund could be best applied, the team found two major issues on post-secondary campuses across Canada that pushed them to pursue the grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne, there wasn\u2019t staff dedicated to supporting people with disabilities and two, students weren\u2019t prepared in the sense that they weren\u2019t getting job experience while they studied,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe reason we pursued that grant was to make sure students had the opportunity to get experience while they studied.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Part-time experiential learning opportunities running throughout the school year will be completely subsidized by the grant, less deductibles, while full-time opportunities, which are running in the summer 2019 term, will be partially subsidized. Students so far have been especially interested in working with companies such as Shopify<\/a>, IBM<\/a> or the provincial and federal governments.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Creating<\/figure>\n\n\n

Supporting Students at Every Stage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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The Career Services<\/a> office will work closely with CUAEL project staff to ensure students are supported at every stage of their job search and feel prepared for the transition to work, including during and after their placement.  Through resume and cover letter review services, job interview preparation, including mock interviews, and individualized career advising sessions, Career Services helps students enhance their job readiness and gives them the knowledge and employability resources they need to market themselves to employers and be successful at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More Interesting Reads<\/h4>\n\n\n\n