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CanDARE (Digital Accessibility Research in Education)

CanDARE (Digital Accessibility Research in Education)

Where digital accessibility isn't pass/fail. It's praxis.

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CANDARE (Digital Accessibility Research in Education) logo.
CanDARE (Digital Accessibility Research in Education)
Where digital accessibility isn't pass/fail. It's praxis.

Learner Experiences

Posts in this section explore learners’ experiences of digital accessibility and inaccessibility. You will encounter visceral, emotional, and learning experiences together here because rarely are they experienced separately by learners with disabilities.

These posts include curated and re-contextualized excerpts of student-, educator- and researcher-voice, as well as my own reflections on experiences of digital disablment in post-secondary.

Provocation: Can we envision joyous, dignity- and equity-centred digital ramps, and where might learners take them?

the hands of a black man lurch to catch his falling camera

Awkwardly Able

I am a researcher with disabilities. Sometimes I am a disabled researcher. Sometimes I am an enabled researcher.(4 min)
Top View Photo of Keyboard and set of Earphonea

What I Didn’t Know About Text-to-Speech When I Started Using it in University.

What makes reading with text-to-speech technology a distinctly different reading experience? And how can you support it? (2 min read, 3 min video)
A woman's arms, carrying a heavy Stack of Books

Digitally Inaccessible Readings Take Extra Time and Extra Cognitive Load

Educators assume a learner who needs help finding a book can just ask the library. But getting help isn’t always that straightforward. (3 min read + Unhiding Some of the Extra Work Artifact)
Black female student hand writing an exam in a room full of students taking the exam.

Technology Restrictions and Able Inconveniences

These experiences have been curated to offer diverse glimpses into how learners with disabilities experience inaccessibility in education. (10 min)
Microscopic Shot Of a Virus

Digital Accessibility Research Overwhelm

A poem about nervous system overwhelm, research overwhelm and new beginnings. ( 2min)

Land Acknowledgment

First a note for people reading with a screen reader or text-to-speech technology: the land acknowledgement text you are about to hear uses two words from two Indigenous languages. Unfortunately, the words may come across as unintelligible because the fonts and keyboards used to author the languages have not been integrated into all assistive technologies and therefore can't yet be accurately interpreted and voiced by your technology.

People who read by sight will see the Indigenous spelling of the words, followed by an Anglicized phonetic spelling of those words, which may also be unintelligible to you. We have yet to develop conventions to offer you a culturally educative reading/voicing of words written in Indigenous languages. I see you and I'm sorry you have to wait for society to attend to, and agree on, ways to include you in linguistic decolonizing practices. For now, I've put buttons with sound clips of the Indigenous words at the end of the acknowledgement. Play the sound clips to hear the words spoken by language speakers.

I live, work and imagine on lands that have historically been stewarded by the Lək̓ʷəŋən (pronounced L-kwun-en) speaking peoples, now known as Victoria, BC. I am drawn to the shores stewarded by the W̱SÁNEĆ (pronounced Wh-say-nech) peoples. I am an uninvited settler. These lands and all the beings here inform my experiences of learning, sharing knowledge and being in community with others.

Play: Le kwun enPlay: Wh say nech

Pronunciations by niltuo.ca.

This research is supported by the BCcampus Research Fellows Program.

This program provides B.C. post-secondary educators and students with funding to conduct small-scale research on teaching and learning, as well as explore evidence-based teaching practices that focus on student success and learning.

The BCCampus logo with a a tagline: Learning. Doing. Leading.

© 2025 CanDARE (Digital Accessibility Research in Education)
Site supported by Pink Sheep Media.

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  • CanDARE
  • About
  • Praxis
    • Praxis Provocations
    • Transformative Digital Accessibility Praxis
    • Unhiding Ableism
  • Learning from Learners
    • Learner Experiences
    • Learners Take on Tech
  • Post-Secondary Library
    • Disability Justice, Digital Justice and Ethics
    • Digital Accessibility in Praxis
    • Book Club
    • Accommodations, Services and Policies
  • Latest
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