Our commitment to accessibility
The Concordia Library is committed to providing an accessible, inclusive, and equitable library experience for users with physical, sensory, cognitive, and mental disabilities, chronic health conditions or other disabling conditions (whether temporary, permanent, or episodic).
A social model of disability
Concordia Library is informed by a social model of disability that understands that disability is located in society rather than in individuals’ bodies and minds.
This model views disability as something imposed upon impaired people by discriminatory social structures, whether those are institutional policies, practices and services, building designs, or dominant attitudes and conceptions about disability. These structures create the barriers that prevent impaired people from accessing resources that would otherwise be available to them and disables them in the eyes of society.
In this view, disability is not inherently negative or limiting. Rather it is ableist structures, environments, and attitudes that generate negative disability experiences through disabling limitations. Furthermore, in a social model of disability, accessibility is a basic collective right which should be integrated to all institutions, resources, and services from the beginning rather than retroactively extended as special accommodations for individuals on a case-by-case basis.
See Further reading for more information on a social model of disability.
Our approach
The Concordia Library’s accessibility approach is positioned in Concordia University’s 2022 Policy for Accessibility, which urges all members and units of the University to participate and engage in creating an accessible and inclusive environment in accordance with principles of intersectionality and Universal Design.
The Library is informed by other campus-wide accessibility, equity, and inclusivity efforts and initiatives, for example:
- Accessibility Hub
- Facilities Management Accessibility and Inclusivity Action Plan
- Concordia Equity Office EDI Action Plan
- Working Group on EDI
We are committed to engaging with this emerging work in a variety of ways with the aim of building deep and meaningful change. We acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do and therefore are approaching this work through a process of continuous improvement.
This library accessibility statement is adapted from work by Balam Kenter, Concordia PhD candidate and Library Accessibility Enhancement Intern, Winter 2025.
Collaboration with the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities (ACSD)
The Concordia Library collaborates with the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities (ACSD) in several areas to provide accessible services. The Concordia Library seeks to sustain this collaboration while also taking a proactive role in enhancing accessibility in infrastructure and services for all Library users.
Further reading
- Accessible Canada Act, SC 2019, c10 (Government of Canada)
- Accessible Libraries
- Act to Secure Handicapped Persons in the Exercise of Their Rights, CQLR 2004, c E-20.1 (Government of Quebec)
- Changing the framework: Disability justice (2011 blog post by Mia Mingus)
- The social model of disability (2010 book chapter by Tom Shakespeare)
- About Universal Design (Centre for Excellence in Universal Design)
Feedback
We operate under the understanding that disabled people are experts in assessing accessibility needs, services, and improvements. As such, we are committed to welcoming ongoing feedback from the community.
Please let us know if you notice an accessibility problem or have a suggestion for information to add.
Megan Fitzgibbons, Associate University Librarian, Planning & Community Engagement, can be also be contacted at megan.fitzgibbons@concordia.ca with any feedback or questions.