Enhancing accessibility in the lab

By Sarah Anderson, PhD

Laboratory courses provide a valuable forum for transforming learning into hands-on experience. They also present unique challenges for students with disabilities. 

Approximately 16 percent of students in the Faculty of Science at UBC Vancouver’s campus identify as having a disability, defined as an impairment in mobility, sensation, learning and cognition, physical and mental health, or communication. The interaction between students with disabilities and the laboratory environment may limit their ability to fully experience lab-based learning. 

To better address the needs of all students, representatives spanning UBC’s science departments, Centre for Teaching and Learning, and Centre for Accessibility as well as external collaborators have teamed up in an effort to enhance accessibility in undergraduate labs. “When we’re talking about access, we’re talking about the ability to participate. We want to ensure that everyone who wants to participate in a particular lab, be that a computer lab or a wet lab or a field lab, is able to,” said Dr. Kirsty McIntyre, the Science Education Specialist at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Skylight Science Centre for Learning and Teaching. “We’re working to identify the barriers that prevent students with disabilities from participating in the lab and understand what we can do so that they have equal opportunity to succeed.” 

Between noisy chatter, smelly chemicals, and hot Bunsen burners, labs can be overwhelming for those with sensory sensitivities. They often require physical dexterity and movement between different stations, presenting obstacles for those with mobility impairments. Students must navigate these environments while remaining engaged cognitively, which can be challenging for those with learning differences. Furthermore, it’s often not feasible to grant students extra time to complete a lab because the next group is scheduled to use the space.

To start to tackle these challenges, the team kicked off the Lab Accessibility in Science Project in the fall, bringing together faculty and staff for an event aimed at building community and promoting knowledge exchange. They are now running focus groups and deploying surveys to learn directly from students with disabilities about their experiences in lab courses and are organizing a speaker series to glean insight from experts and advocates. In collaboration with the Inclusive Laboratory Experiences team at York University, they are also developing a checklist that can be used to objectively evaluate how accessible a lab course is from a physical, sensory, and learning standpoint.

Through these efforts, the team hopes to inspire ongoing dialogue, document, share, and scale up effective lab accessibility practices that are already in use, and, in consultation with UBC’s Centre for Accessibility, develop and pilot new approaches. With input from leaders across UBC’s Faculty of Science, Faculty of Forestry, and Faculty of Medicine, they recently applied for and successfully secured a Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund to garner support for resources, training, equipment, and other tools needed to enhance accessibility. 

Within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, one existing approach is to enable students to familiarize themselves with the lab space and instrumentation and anticipate potential barriers in advance. Drs. Jennifer Sibley and Andrew Santos, teaching instructors and partners on the Lab Accessibility in Science Project, have invited students to tour the lab before embarking on their first undergraduate laboratory course in molecular microbiology. “We wanted to create a welcoming environment where students feel comfortable letting us know how we can better support them and give ourselves the lead time needed to meet some of those expectations,” said Dr. Sibley.

Approximately 15 percent of the students enrolled in the course joined the lab tour, including those who aren’t officially registered as having a disability but could benefit from certain accommodations. “The key aspects are flexibility and willingness to meet the students where they are,” said Dr. Santos. “That could mean allowing them to complete a task on a different day, providing a different space in the room that they can use, or increasing access to the door so that they can step out more easily.”

Teaching lab spaces in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology have also been designed with diverse needs in mind. For example, they feature adjustable lab benches that can be raised or lowered to accommodate height differences and mobility assistance devices. 

“People are making great strides when it comes to lab accessibility, but they're siloed into individual departments, and they’re taking on a significant amount of work in the process,” said Dr. McIntyre. “I’m in a unique position due to my connection with Skylight where I can coordinate efforts across departments and even faculties to more efficiently create long-standing change.” 

Through the Lab Accessibility in Science Project, Dr. McIntyre and her colleagues plan to more broadly implement simple, cost-effective approaches such as offering lab tours to incoming students. Similarly, if they identify a need for accessible equipment such as magnifying pipettes for people who are visually impaired, they aim to maximize its impact by establishing a repository that can be shared between multiple departments. 

The team also hopes that the project will foster a greater sense of belonging in science for students with disabilities. As Dr. McIntyre said, “I think it’s important that our scientists reflect the diversity of our community and the world at large, and that starts with making sure that the lab is accessible to everyone.”