Tag: disability
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Designing an Accessible Classroom Conference
On March 29th, I and six other students organized the Ableism in the Classroom conference, the first to bring together students, faculty and staff on the issue of accessibility. Despite the challenges and stress behind the scenes before and during the conference, it was a success! I’m deeply grateful to my team for starting a…
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Canada Disability Benefit: Share Your Ideas
The Government of Canada is consulting with Canadians on the new Disability Benefit: Here is why you should participate. “According to the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability, 58 per cent of Ontarians withdisabilities aged 25 to 64 years were employed – well below the 81 per cent level for theircontemporaries without disabilities.” As stated by…
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Minister of Diversity, Inclusion & Persons with Disabilities – CDB Round Table
On October 20th, 2023 – the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion & Persons with Disabilities – Honourable Kamal Khera – hosted a round table to discuss the Canadian Disability Benefit ( that gained royal approval this past July) to learn its impact on young persons with disabilities. On October 20th, I had the distinct honour of…
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Accessibility & Public Transportation
Transit Accessibility Sucks For the past 4 years at the University of Toronto (minus the years of lockdowns) I have commuted all over Toronto, via bus, trains, and street cars, regardless if they are TTC, Viva or The Go. As a commuter, I have come across inaccessibility DAILY. It was the first thing I noticed…
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The Case for Movie Captions in Theatres
As the Toronto Film Festival begins, let’s return to the good old debate about captions in theatres. The last time I talked about the caption debate, a lot of international filmgoers were a bit confused. After all, having captions in non-English-speaking countries is the norm. Not so in Canada. The idea of having words on…
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Captions, Films & Individualism Culture
When my “Wakanda Forever & Haiti” article went viral as the number 1 most viewed article on The Varsity’s website, I was a tad bit annoyed that it would be that article of all articles to gain 23 K views, as it was supposed to be my fluff article, in compared to my serious disability…
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U-TAAC’s “Ableism in the Classroom” Conference Opens up Conversations for Change at U of T
Addressing the gaps After four years of attending U of T and being registered with Accessibility Services, it has become apparent to me ( based on personal experience and of others) that despite having an accessibility system designed to support students, it is clear that there is a gap between the provision of accommodations and…
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Open your eyes, Hollywood
Have you ever wondered why most villains of fiction and fairytales tend to have a disability trait? Neither did I, I until Peter Dinklage pointed it out. Writing this feature was one of the more enjoyable ones. While it required doing additional reading on top of the readings I have to do for class, I…
Catherine CC Dumé 