The Collective Inclusion Pathways for Access (CIPA) is a two-year project that aims to develop alternative non-disclosure pathways for access for students with disabilities in higher education. CIPA will explore accessibility and accommodation models, learn from experts, and develop a resource appropriate to York University and beyond.
CIPA is an interdisciplinary research study about accessibility and accommodation. Our purpose is to increase the success of students with disabilities in academia. The initial focus is on professional-based programs with work placements. Work placements are important experiential education experiences in higher education institutions as they transition students to professional roles. Currently, access for students with disabilities is heavily reliant on an accommodations model predicated on the disclosure of a medical diagnosis. Previous research has indicated there are significant gaps for students in this model. We are researching alternative non-disclosure pathways to support student success.
Counselors at York’s Student Accessibility Services identified that they had no framework within which to use stories of avoidance or refusal of disclosure and would like more resources to help them operate in this uncharted territory.
We aim to develop a Collective Inclusion Pathways to Access (CIPA) promising practices guide/framework for access professionals and for those responsible for creating accessible education. The CIPA resource will open more pathways to access by educating access professionals, faculty, and staff about alternative options. The CIPA model we are proposing will build a knowledge framework to support multiple routes to access for students with disabilities in experiential education.
This work is a two-year grant funded by York University's Academic Innovation Fund.
Project Timeline
Year 1 (May 2022 to April 2023)
- Conduct a literature review of the suggested models and frameworks for alternative and non-disclosure pathways for students with disabilities in academia.
- Conduct an environmental scan of existing alternative and non-disclosure pathways
- Conduct interviews with people identified from the environmental scan who are providing and operationalizing alternative and non-disclosure pathways
- Analyze data and suggest a framework to pilot at York University's Accessibility Services, and select schools and departments
Year 2 (May 2023 to April 2024)
- Pilot and evaluate the framework
- Analyze the potential for larger implementation
The environmental scan sought to find pathways to access-centered education that currently exist to provide an alternative relationship to accommodation and disclosure of disability status rather than the traditional processes found in higher education institutions.
Lived experience guides the direction of the work. The research assistants identify and hold multiple overlapping identities. Their social positions and experiences informed the direction of their scan. This includes actively seeking work being done by and centering SDQTBIPOC voices to not reinscribe white supremacy in research.
See our poster presentation at the Not Just a Checkbox conference.
Year 1 (May 2022 to April 2023)
- Conducted a literature review of the suggested models and frameworks for alternative and non-disclosure pathways for students with disabilities in academia.
- Conducted an environmental scan of existing alternative and non-disclosure pathways
- From January to May 2023, the team conducted 37 interviews with people identified from the environmental scan who are providing and operationalizing alternative and non-disclosure pathways, including institutional administration, faculty members, and student advocates
Year 2 (May 2023 to April 2024)
- Publication of the literature review is in progress
- Publication of the environmental scan is in progress
- All transcripts from the interviews have been coded. The team is currently conducting the data analysis, looking at the codes that would surface the current pitfalls of what has been tried and what isn't working, the aspirations of what accessible and alternative pathways could be, and suggested practice components that a framework could put into practice
Upcoming: complete data analysis and develop a framework to put into practice alternative pathways
Presentations
- Oral Presentation, "Collective Inclusive Pathways for Access," at Not a Checkbox: Engaging in a Culture of Equitable Teaching (Decolonization, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in Teaching & Learning Community of Practice 2023 Hybrid Conference)
- Poster Presentation, "Mapping Sites of the Co-Creation of Academic Access in Higher Education Institutions", at Not a Checkbox: Engaging in a Culture of Equitable Teaching
CIPA is a co-creation, collaborative research project. The direction and learning are guided by students with lived experience in a diversity of intersections, including but not limited to disability, racialization, gender, and sexual orientation.
Meet our principal investigators, co-investigators, project manager, and research assistants.
Dr. Iris Epstein (she/her) is an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing, a faculty member of the Critical Disability Studies program, and the co-founder of the i.r.i.s (Interdisciplinary Research Inclusive Strategies) lab program at York University. Click here for information on Dr. Epstein.
Dr. Maria Liegghio (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at York University. Her expertise is in child and youth mental health (or more critically children's psychiatrization), systems change, social service planning and development, critical social work education and practice, and collaborative, community-based, and participatory action research. She has extensive experience working as a child and family mental health therapist. In this project, she supports data collection, analysis and dissemination, project design, development, and evaluation of the resources intervention, and supports and facilitates implementation of project activities in the School of Social Work. Click here for more information on Dr. Maria Liegghio.
Dr. Lindsay Stephens (she/her) is a social planner and human geographer. Her expertise is in the socio-spatial aspects of accessibility and inclusion in urban and institutional spaces. Her role in the project is to assist in research design and collaborate on interviews and analysis and support policy/document analysis of promising practices. Click here for information on Dr. Lindsay Stephens at U of T or her portfolio.
Cindy Jiang (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in Critical Disability Studies at York University's School of Health Policy and Management. Whether in the field of health, human rights, or disability rights, Cindy works with people to create a community. Her doctoral research stems from her lived experience of disability and mental health and explore these intersections with racialization using arts-based methods. She was a Research Associate for Strength-in-Unity, Vancouver site, a national men's mental health study that looked at how to reduce the stigma of mental illness among Asian men in Canada. In the non-profit sector, she co-developed and implemented Threadworks, a social enterprise and skills training program for people with disabilities. She has worked with organizations such as Bass Coast Music Festival, Vancouver International Children's Festival, Centre for Excellence for Women’s Health, Simon Fraser University, Craftworks Society, and Fraser Health Authority. Please click here for more information and to connect with Cindy.
Sabine Fernandes is a Ph.D. student in Critical Disability Studies at York University's School of Health Policy & Management. With a transnational background in care work, their research interests include cross-movement solidarity in disability care organizing, popular care work political education, the political economy of human rights, and critical access studies. They work in the intersections of disability and migrant justice.
Sammy Jo Johnson (she/her) is a Ph.D. candidate at York University in the Critical Disability Studies program. She is a Coda (child of deaf adults), chronically ill weightlifter, and has a background in adult education. Her work is influenced by the fields of deaf, disability, feminist studies, and critical pedagogy. Her current research is focused on calling out audism, sexism, and racism in knowledge production and practicing engaged teaching and research. Please click here if you'd like to get in touch with Sammy Jo.
Leo Macawile (he/they) is a nursing student at York University. He is the President of the Nursing Student Association of York University (2022-2023) and the Policy and Political Action Officer for the RNAO-Nursing Student of Ontario (2022-2023), where he helps represent more than 8,000 nursing students in the province. Leo has done numerous works on raising awareness of the importance of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), especially in higher education, and empowering nursing students to embrace the sociopolitical aspect of nursing. Recently, he has organized the first and largest student-led initiative to recognize the unparallel contribution of Filipino Nurses in Canada. In addition, Leo is passionate about learning how to reduce systemic barriers that prevent people with in/visible disabilities from achieving their full potential.
Collaborators and Area Experts
We have an interdisciplinary team consisting of collaborators and area experts.
Dr. Melanie Baljko is an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty member, who leads the Practice technologies (PiET) Lab. PiET Lab is centered on digital media and digital technology design, with a special focus on inclusion and social belonging. Dr. Balijko also serves as an Associate Professor at the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University. Her key research interests are disability and technology, the digital divide, and human-computer interaction.
Dr. Nastaran Dadashi is a professor and a Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors Specialist CErgHF) with experience in human-centred design, human factors engineering, and adopting mixed methodological approaches to understand complex systems (railway, nuclear and healthcare). She has founded Usability Lab (a multi-million dollar facility at George Brown School of Design) which is utilized during teaching as well as research activities with industrial partners. She is the program coordinator for Honours Bachelor of Digital Experience Design and the research coordinator overseeing Design Centre for the Smart Economy (NSERC-Innovation Enhancement Grant). Dr. Dadashi aims to incorporate design thinking to explore multi-agent socio-technical control systems. Examples of such projects include Fashion Exchange Women in Fashion TECH- Women’s Economic Security Program (Ministry of the Status of Women-Ontario); Co-designing online tools for holistic crisis planning (SSHRC); Sustainable, integrated smart communities: co-designing towards inclusiveness (SSHRC) and Design Thinking to optimize pre-surgical care: using big data for holistic and integrated patient care (SSHRC). Nastaran is also a committee member at GBC ethics board and an associate member of the Human Factors Research Group, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. Please click here for more information about Dr. Dadashi.
Dr. Yasaman Delaviz (she/her) is an Educational/Curricular Development Specialist in the Faculty of Health. Dr. Yasaman supports the development and implementation of curricular and co-curricular initiatives in the Faculty of Health.
Lindsay LaMorre is an Associate Director of Experiential Education and Facilitator of Community Partners (Education) with the Faculty of Health at York University.
Dr. Judith MacDonnell (she/her) is an Associate Professor with the School of Nursing at York University. She has more than 20 years of expertise in public health nursing. Her research interests focus on the intersections of race/racism, sexuality, age, generation, and ability and how these factors influence health access and equity. Much of Dr. MacDonnell's scholarly work has to do with access and health equity as well as minority health and education. Her goal is to create a positive educational environment, working environments, and communities of care, from the macro level of policies and systems to the micro level of relationships between providers and individuals.
Roxanne Mykitiuk is a Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member of the core faculty in the Department of Critical Disabilities Studies graduate programs. She is nationally and internationally recognized for her exceptional work in Disability Law, Health Law, Bioethics and Family Law. Professor Mykitiuk is an active, engaged, and collaborative researcher. She has authored and co-authored countless books, research articles, and book chapters centered on the legal construction and regulation of embodiment and disability.
Dr. Hilda Smith (they/them) is a dedicated, versatile, and client-focused Knowledge Mobilization Specialist offering an advanced academic background in Critical Disability Studies. In more than one decade of developing knowledge mobilization strategies, engaging in projects, and facilitating workshops, Dr. Smith has mastered providing a hands-on approach, unique evaluation techniques, and skills in translating information into comprehensible documents. Through their years of experience, they have become renowned for generating effective evidenced based plans.
Robin Sutherland-Harris is an Educational Developer with the Teaching Commons at York University. Robin's role is to support and collaborate with the project members and students with disabilities to ensure clarity and alignment of outcomes for each multimedia resource, and to ensure project resources are developed according to pedagogical promising practices.
Karen Swartz is the Associate Director for Student Accessibility Services at York University.