The Martlet

Students with disabilities need access to housing on UVic’s campus. Otherwise, they may not be able to go school. Period.

This is the message UVic student Kimberlee Graham-Knight sent during the Disabled Housing Rally Friday Jan. 20 in the Student Union Building. Graham-Knight teamed up with the Society for Students with a Disability (SSD) to run the rally. Key speakers included Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May and UVic law student Miles Motture.

Graham-Knight, who was admitted into housing in Jan. 2011, didn’t think she would have an issue getting into housing again for the Fall 2011 term. While she had proper documentation for her disability, UVic Housing told her that their policy had changed and she would be placed into a lottery with all other students. She was unsuccessful in gaining admittance to housing and was almost unable to return to school.

After much rehabilitation, Graham-Knight was able to enroll in three courses this semester and had enough energy to organize the rally, which saw an attendance of 25–30 people.

“This is obviously 100 per cent wrong, what they did to me. I felt like I needed to investigate what the situation was. This situation is a symptom of a general lack of advocacy for disabled people on campus,” says Graham-Knight. “Before, there was no advocacy at all — every disabled student had to fend for themselves. Now, at least people’s stories are getting out there, the veil of silence has been taken off.”

“It’s really good to start it off in this direction and now the momentum can only build from here,” she adds.

However, UVic Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Jim Dunsdon says UVic prioritizes access for students with disabilities.

“Our residence [program] has always provided priority access for students with disabilities who need to live on campus in order to access the university. So we’ve always provided access in that regard, and we will always provide access in that regard,” says Dunsdon.

There are about eight to 10 other known students with disabilities who have had similar housing issues.

“Many other disabled students have been having problems with housing and academic accommodations,” says Alexa Hanson, SSD communications director. “We’re a new organization, really, so we’re kind of like a rallying point for disabled students to come together and talk about their issues and realize that other people are having the same issues. It’s really a systemic problem.”

“The university has been changing policies rapidly throughout the last five years or so, and it’s created havoc for people’s academia,” says Hanson. “I know of someone who is no longer able to attend classes at UVic because of this.”

Elizabeth May believes that all disabled students should have access to on-campus housing.

“You shouldn’t have to go year-to-year to defend that you have the same disability that you had last year and that your situation hasn’t changed, and that you still need housing to accommodate your particular challenges,” says May. “Students with disabilities have a lot to deal with. On top of their regular course work and dealing with their particular hurdles and challenges, they now also have to organize rallies — you can see that this was very stressful for the organizers.”

A LACK OF COMMUNICATION

Graham-Knight says she has had issues getting in touch with Student Affairs over the past semester. She was promised calls, which she never received and, on the day of the rally, she was supposed to meet with Student Services Executive Director Joel Lynn, who cancelled the appointment.

“My brother came over from Vancouver today and he wanted to come with me to meet Joel Lynn,” says Graham-Knight. “We went in there and they told us that they were sorry but he had no time for us today, and that they could book me in sometime next week.” She called May to help support her in getting her message across.

“I think it takes a lot — I mean, I don’t think of myself as being intimidating, but to call a member of parliament who you don’t know and to say, ‘Can you come to our rally?’ It shows a lot of initiative and empowerment and that needs to be respected,” says May. “So the university should, and I think they do, take this issue seriously. And, you know, get better solutions than what we see happening.”

Law student Miles Motture also spoke at the rally. His message focused on the lack of communication and attention given to issues such as Graham-Knight’s.

“I’d like to give you UVic’s side of the story, but I can’t because they won’t give us one,” he says.

A BRIEFING OF BEDS

UVic contacted May shortly before the rally, sending her a briefing on UVic residences and students with disabilities.

“I want to be fair and give the university administration a fair chance that they’re looking into it. But when you hear the students saying they don’t get action until we’re pressing — I hope that this will be followed through very seriously,” says May.

The briefing that UVic provided to May states that for the 2011-12 year, 2 200 beds were available. 1 500 were allotted for first-year students, 100 for graduate students, 100 for international students, 50 for students with specific physical needs, and approximately 500 for the remaining lottery of senior undergrads and transfer students.

The current housing application only grants housing to disabled students who are enrolled in a degree program. In Graham-Knight’s case, this presents a problem because she is picking up classes to work towards a master’s degree. Many other disabled students are unable to commit to full course loads.

“When we look at who is eligible to live in residence, the first stage of eligibility is that you need to be a student enrolled in a degree program and taking credit courses,” says Dunsdon. “The next level is if you are a first-year student, and if you are then you are automatically given a place in residence. We have a number of rooms in residence that are specifically designed to support students with various disability requirements. Following that, we have accommodation that is available to upper level students and those students at the undergraduate level apply and are put into a lottery.”

Dunsdon says there are approximately 500 rooms for upper-level undergrads and 3 000–4 000 applications each year. What number of those are students with disabilities?

“With first-year students, we don’t have any idea because all students get in. So with upper-year students, it really depends on the year — many students have disabilities and are accepted through the lottery system and get into residence. It’s usually 20–25 students who will apply,” says Dunsdon. “Our priority is to fill the rooms with students who are enrolled in degree programs and are taking credit courses. That’s our primary focus.”

POTENTIAL CHANGE FOR THE FUTURE

The UVic Housing Policy may see some change, but it’s unclear how much of it there will be.

“UVic is in the process of developing a new residence application system for students with a disability in addition to introducing a consultation team whose membership will have specific expertise and credentials in this area to better assess the applicants requesting special consideration based on a disability,” stated the briefing given to May. “UVic will be providing the Advisory Committee on Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities with an opportunity to review and provide comment on the revised application process.”

“In the future — given the changes our campus has seen in terms of numbers of students with disabilities, which continues to grow and the complexity of disability — we are going to have a small team of professionals who are going to review that information and those requests. That’s the only change we’re looking at,” says Dunsdon.