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This National AccessAbility Week (May 29 to June 4), we recognize ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ researchers, teachers, learners and community members who are combatting ableism and removing barriers to accessibility. We also acknowledge the road ahead to become a more disability-inclusive university.

If you are in need of accessibility related support or information, the university offers resources including the Academic Success Centre which helps coordinate students’ disability-related accommodation needs for participation in university programs.

Here are eight ways U of A researchers, teachers, learners and community members are striving to create a future accessible to all:

• Children with severe mobility issues could control toys or even power wheelchairs with their minds using a device developed by a team out of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.  
  

• STEM communities might better address inequality and barriers faced by researchers with disabilities, says Faculty of Science graduate student.
  

• Meet Danielle Peers, a former Paralympian and professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation who works in the multi-disciplinary field of critical disability studies examining participation in parasport.
  

• An Engineering graduate student is using his research on wheelchair biomechanics to help create a more accessible world.
  

• Aspiring para-rower and Steadward Centre youth coordinator helps others with disabilities navigate the world of sport and activity.
  

• When designing spaces for people living with disabilities, there’s more to consider than whether they are physically accessible, says ALES human ecology researcher.
  

• From exclusion to inclusion: Arts professor Joshua St. Pierre challenges the disability narrative. 

• Faculty of Education professors and alumni share five strategies to foster inclusion and help you broaden your community.