Academic Accommodation Support
The 2024-25 academic year was marked by work towards an expanded service delivery model that furthers the vision of becoming a disability resource centre, rather than simply a place where students receive accommodation letters. While our core mandate of supporting students remains a priority in 2024-25, the highlights below demonstrate the areas we are expanding our impact on the student experience for students with disabilities at TMU.
Collaboration with TMU School of Medicine (SoM)
The newly created SoM provided an incredible opportunity for AAS and SoM to establish a collaborative relationship from the beginning. Over the past year, we have worked collaboratively to provide support across both the undergraduate and postgraduate streams.
This was also the first time AAS was involved in supporting interview accommodations for applicants.
This work has continued beyond the admissions process and into the next cycle, with AAS providing ongoing support to the SoM in developing learner accommodation policies and resources. More than 40 scheduled meetings were held, alongside many additional last-minute consultations, reflecting the high level of collaboration and responsiveness required to advance this work.
AAS’s Educational Developer has partnered closely with the SoM Educational Developer to provide faculty-specific support, including the delivery of two tailored presentations. This partnership has helped to build faculty capacity and strengthen awareness around accessibility in medical education. A special acknowledgement goes to Jazz Morrow, Manager, Intake and Operations, for her dedicated contributions and leadership throughout the year, which have been instrumental in driving this important work forward.
Reviewed and assessed
200
interview accommodation requests individually, prepared recommendations, and presented each case to the Admissions Accommodations Committee.
RBC Grant – Building Roadmap to Success
Through guidance and leadership from our Executive Director and University Advancement, AAS was the successful recipient of the RBC grant, titled “Building a New Roadmap to Success for Students with Disabilities.” Some highlights of the proposal objectives are listed here and more information surrounding the rollout and full details will be announced in Fall 2025.
With the partnership of RBC, the university will build the capacity to ensure we:
- Address the challenges and barriers that students with disabilities face during their post-secondary journey
- Equip students with disabilities with learning strategies and tools that support their unique needs
- Provide pathways to improve participation in work-integrated learning opportunities
- Teach students with disabilities how to advocate for themselves at school and in the workplace
Working in tandem with student-facing programming, with the support of RBC, the university will:
- Provide purpose-designed training to faculty and staff that builds understanding of the unique needs of students with disabilities and how to accommodate their needs in ways that help them realize their highest potential
- Create pathways for students with disabilities to work-integrated learning opportunities
- Share expertise, learnings and best practices with potential employers.
This is the first grant proposal acceptance, and funding investment, that AAS has secured. We are extremely proud and excited to be partnering with RBC and are looking forward to continuing to increase the positive impact we have on students with disabilities at TMU.
Assessment and Data-Driven Decision-Making
2024-25 represents a year of commitment to assessment and data-driven decision-making as we continue to envision where AAS will be in the coming years. The following are some highlights of the intentionality we have placed on assessment and ensuring we are making decisions with the most accurate representation of what our students need.
AAS Benchmark Survey
- In Fall 2024, AAS launched its first-ever Benchmark Student Experience Survey (led by Jenny Sampirisi, Learning & Inclusion Developer, and the AAS Assessment Committee), inviting all 5,947 registered students to reflect on how well the service meets their needs. With 313 usable responses, this dataset provides the most comprehensive snapshot to date of how students experience academic accommodations at TMU.
- The report highlights a student experience of being registered with AAS that is not just about access but also the effort required to maintain that access, the relational tone of the service, and the structural realities that either support or erode inclusion.
- Our impact is most positive when students have access to timely, individualized support that is more human-centred vs. transactional in nature.
- AAS has the opportunity to strengthen what students already trust and address the institutional inconsistencies that continue to compromise access. The data from this survey will allow AAS to continue to positively shift the broader culture of disability inclusion at TMU.
Inclusive Learning
- The Inclusive Learning team, led by Suzanne MacArthur, Manager, Inclusive Learning, placed an emphasis on program assessment in 2024-25, creating and administering two surveys and one review.
- The Inclusive Learning survey was sent to all students who have utilized learning strategy or assistive technology appointments in order to understand how we can improve the service.
- The team focused on STRIVE, our group-study and topic-specific learning strategy sessions for students, administering a survey that will allow the team to reimagine STRIVE moving forward.
84%
of respondents indicated accessing LS/AT support contributed to their success
83%
of students indicated they wanted STRIVE to provide a sense of community
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The 2024-2025 academic year was a period of significant growth for AAS, highlighted by two key developments and one project that will expand our impact on the TMU community in the coming years.
First, a $2 million gift from the RBC Foundation will elevate our programming for students with disabilities, enhancing opportunities for access, inclusion, and success. The funding will support new initiatives designed to ease students' transition into university, sustain them throughout their academic careers, and prepare them for the workforce. Second, the Test Centre signed its first formal revenue-generating agreement for AAS and Student Wellbeing. This partnership enhances our financial sustainability and allows us to further invest in supporting TMU students. Lastly, in Fall 2024, AAS embarked on a project to launch a student benchmark survey that would gauge student perspectives on academic accommodations. The resulting data has provided our office with the most comprehensive insight to date on how students experience the academic accommodation process at TMU. Looking ahead to 2025-2026, AAS will use this data to continue improving service delivery and work collaboratively with instructors and departments to better support them in implementing accommodations.
Brian Williams, Director, Academic Accommodation & Learning