Accessible Education in BC – Disability Forum

Have you experienced a challenge or frustration in navigating the education system as a person with or parent of a person with a disability in BC? If so, you are not alone.  

The Disability Foundation of BC regularly holds an online Accessible Community Forum to cultivate conversations among various organizations and people living with disabilities. In November, the topic was Accessible Education in BC, and LDS Director of Education, Dr Jenn Fane, participated as a panelist in a six-person panel of individuals with a wealth of professional and lived experience in the provision of educational services for people with disabilities.  

The online forum included a pre-forum survey to those in attendance to understand the real gaps and challenges in the provision of Accessible Education in BC. Some key findings from the survey were: 

• 59% of respondents do not think there are adequate accessible school options in BC 
• 75% of respondents are not aware of any programs, services, or organizations that help people find accessible education options in BC 
• 73% of respondents do not feel that they or their dependent can obtain accessible education in their area without financial assistance given their current level of income 
• 70% of respondents require some form of assistive technology to succeed in an academic setting 

While navigating Accessible Education services in BC is certainly challenge, LDS is proud to be offering services and supports to individuals and families in these identified areas of need, including: 

• advising and coaching on finding accessible education opportunities via our Family Coaching Services; 
• offering financial assistance to lower-income individuals and families for all LDS specialized education programs via our sliding fee scale based on household income; 

• integrating Assistive Technology (AT) into our programs to meet the individualised needs of our learners. All LDS learners have access to our Assistive Technology studio and suite of AT hardware and software to support learning. LDS also offers a free online tour of our AT tools and an LDS Reference Guide to accessing and using AT to anyone interested in learning more.  

Interesting in learning more about Accessible Education in BC? The Forum was recorded and can be found here.  

Interested in other topics impacted the lives of individuals with disabilities in BC? See the Disability Forum’s Accessible Community page for previous forums on accessibility and inclusion in relation to housing, parking, environment, recreation, transportation and employment. 

– Jennifer Fane, Director of Education

LDS is a community of dedicated professionals that write collaboratively. We recognize the contribution of unnamed team members for their wisdom and input.