“When I was about 39 or 40, all of a sudden I lost my sight completely, so I had to reinvent myself.”
– Allan Angus

Durham College is featured prominently in the newest video released by Ontario’s Ministry of Community and Social Services Accessibility Ontario (Access Ontario) program. Titled ‘A Day in the Life of Allan’, the video stars Allan Angus, a student in Durham College’s Business Administration program and takes viewers on a journey through the City of Oshawa and the college’s campus.

Highlights include taking public transit; walking the city streets; navigating around campus using brail signage; using specialized software to operate his laptop; and going to the library, the gym and the grocery store.

“I made the video to help advocate for inclusiveness and access, in educating the general public to barriers they do not consider and how these barriers affect the daily life of a person with a disability,” said Angus.

The video was produced by Access Ontario – a training and development organization that helps non-profits and businesses in Ontario to understand and comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act – in co-operation with the college’s Accessibility Working Group (AWG). The goal of the AWG is to reduce barriers for people with disabilities while improving all aspects of students’ campus life.

“With 10 per cent of the post-secondary population in Canada presenting with a disability, we now design our campuses and classrooms with accessibility in mind,” said Meghan Houghton, AWG Committee co-chair and director of the Access and Support Centre. “Rather than asking the individuals with disabilities to adapt to the environment, we plan our environments and services with human diversity in mind.”

“Over the last three years in particular the AWG at Durham College has attempted to implement universal design in every area from construction of facilities to communication and information technology,” said Allan.

“Disabilities have no gender, they have no race, they have no ethnicity. People with disabilities come from all walks of life. And so it’s the right thing for schools to do — to be able to accommodate people with disabilities and provide them with a forum where they can achieve their goals.”