SFSS Board set to develop an internal accessibility standard policy

By Onosholema Ogoigbe, News Team Member

On May 30, Jennifer Chou, SFSS arts and social sciences representative, proposed that the SFSS create an internal accessibility standard policy.

“The Accessibility Fund Committee has not had a chance to meet to discuss this. I have submitted this as a discussion item for the Board of Directors to review,” Chou writes.

Chou sent a document to the board outlining some key issues around accessibility in the SFSS, particularly concerning board meetings. These included board meeting locations being inaccessible, the fact that board meetings are not live streamed, the lack of amplification and closed captioning during board meetings, and the use of jargon in meeting minutes and agendas.

“SFSS accessibility is inconsistent — meetings have [accessibility accommodations] sometimes, but not all the time,” Chou writes in the document. “This is why an Accessibility Standard Policy would be useful.”

“SFSS is supposed to represent all undergraduate students, so we cannot just leave these students out of discussions and meetings just because it is not accessible for them.”

The Peak reached out to Chou for comment about a portion of the document, which seemed to imply that live streaming by students during board meetings were allowed. The information seemed to contradict SFSS executive director, Sylvia Ceacero’s previous statement on the matter. Chou replied that livestreaming “is not explicitly allowed or disallowed [ . . . ] whether it would be ‘allowed’ or not really depends on the Board of Directors.”

She went on to emphasize that “bringing livestreaming to SFSS Board of Directors meetings may make them more accessible, and thus gain more engagement from anyone with accessibility needs.”

According to a statement given to The Peak by SFSS president Giovanni HoSang, the SFSS does not currently have an accessibility standard policy. However, he went on to say that they do have an accessibility committee that works on addressing accessibility concerns as well as reviewing student grants for the SFSS accessibility fund.

He also stated that the SFSS does try to make itself accessible but acknowledges that “having it written down [in a policy] would actually hold [them] accountable to it.”

Chou’s document also gave recommendations of what a policy should include such as “basic accessibility measures for all public meetings” and “training of staff to carry out these measures.” It also recommended that the board consult with the Campaigns, Policy and Research Coordinator, the Centre for Accessible Learning, and other students with disabilities before finalizing a policy.

The discussion was referred to the Accessibility Committee for them to develop a policy and present a subsequent motion to the board.

According to HoSang, Christina Loutsik, vice-president student services and the chair of the Accessibility Committee, is currently working with the Nominating Committee and the SFSS Board of Directors to appoint at-large members to the Accessibility Committee. After this, the committee can start meeting and work on developing an accessibility standard policy to recommend for board approval.

Chou also told The Peak that discussing an accessibility policy has sparked dialogue on accessibility within the SFSS. The discussion will be brought to the Accessibility Committee meeting on June 17. Chou, who is also part of the Disability and Neurodiversity Coalition student group, will bring up the discussion item during the coalition’s meeting on June 24 for further discussion.