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Department

Accessibility Services

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Our team assists in navigating disability-related barriers to your academic success at U of T for your on-going or temporary disability. We provide services and supports for learning, problem solving and inclusion.

Photo: Michelle Gibson

Why Connect With Us

Program, practicum, course & lab accommodations.

Supports including learning strategists, adaptive technologists, peer advisors & learning skills workshops.

5 KEY things to get you started & updated student handbooks.

Plus a list of popular accessibility-related topics.

REGISTERING WITH ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES

Get answers to your top questions

Got a question about registering with accessibility services? You might find your answer here. If you don’t see the information you’re looking for, drop by our office (fastest way to reach us) or contact us via phone or email (wait times on our phone lines and response time for emails may be delayed).

See the contacts section on this page for ways to contact us. Returning students are encouraged to attend their accessibility advisor’s drop-ins posted under the contacts section.

You may get the process started by completing the Online Student Intake Form (Step 2) and upload any supporting documentation that you currently have available, even if outdated. Depending on the quality of the documentation, we may be able to proceed on an interim basis while you are gathering current documentation. Indicate within the student intake form that you are in the process of gathering current documentation.

Examples of supporting disability-related documentation may include but is not limited to: most recent Individual Education Plan (IEP, or 504 Plan), Emergency Room (ER) Record, Letter from your family doctor or specialist outlining current functional impacts, prior assessment report (psycho-educational, psychological or neuropsychological), consultation notes, discharge summary, etc.

Once your student intake form is received and reviewed, we will contact you with further updates. Please note, your application is deemed complete upon receipt of your current disability-related documentation.

We strongly encourage students to register with Accessibility Services as early as possible to avoid a delay in service. 

Note: When making accommodation requests, students need to give the university (Accessibility Services, Faculty, Staff) ample time to ensure that accommodations will be available when needed. Requests to Register after the deadline will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. (This includes the completion of the Online Student Intake Form  and supporting disability-related documentation)

Registering at the end of a term e.g. November/December may result in the service referring students to the petitions process via their Registrar/Faculty as the service may not have enough time to meet with a student before the end of the term to determine eligibility, assess their disability-related needs, create an accommodation plan and implement an accommodation plan.

We encourage students to submit any documentation that they have on hand currently that speaks to the existence of a confirmed disability. Depending on the quality of the documentation provided, we may be able to proceed on an interim basis. Where this is not possible, we can work with you to suggest alternatives for locating a healthcare practitioner to obtain disability-related documentation (e.g., Certificate of Disability).

If you have not previously been diagnosed with ADHD, contact your family doctor or specialist such as a psychologist or psychiatrist to complete a screening for ADHD (not an assessment). They may complete our Certificate of Disability  to indicate current functional limitations and provide a rationale if further assessment might be warranted.    

Once your completed student intake package is received and reviewed, we will contact you with further updates.  

*Please note that we cannot provide reimbursements for psycho-educational or other assessments that have not been approved in advance through our office.

To avoid duplication, please choose only ONE of the options below for submitting your documentation.

  • Your healthcare provider may fax your supporting disability-related documentation directly to our office at 416-978-5729.
  • You may drop off a paper copy of the documentation in person at  455 Spadina Avenue, Suite 400, 4th floor Toronto ON M5S 2G8. No prior appointment is required to meet with our reception team.  Please see the contact section on this page for our hours of operation and scheduled office closures.
  • You may upload a scanned copy of your documentation as a single clear PDF file via our Secure Document Upload Portal.
    • Login using your UTORid and password.
    • Select ‘Unknown’ in the accessibility advisor field if you are a new student.
    • Affix an electronic copy of your document (PDF* format is preferred. Maximum size:  30MB). 

      *If the PDF contains images of the document, these must be legible on a white background without any shadows.

We try to respond to all registration inquiries within a reasonable time frame (5 business days).   During periods of higher volume, it may take longer to process registration packages.

We triage packages for completeness and nature of disability in the order in which they are received. Students are advised to monitor their utoronto email and voicemail on a regular basis for important updates from our office.

If you have a time-sensitive inquiry, you may reach us:  

  • In person:                               
    455 Spadina Avenue, fourth floor, Suite 400 (recommended)
  • Phone:                                     
    416-978-8060
    (longer wait times due to high volume)
  • Email:   
    accessibility.services@utoronto.ca
    (delayed response time due to high volume)

Once your student intake package is reviewed and an accessibility advisor is assigned, the reception team will contact you at their earliest opportunity offer an intake appointment with your accessibility advisor. Appointments are offered virtually on MS Teams audio or video conferencing or in-person.

Our priority is to offer students the first available appointment date/time with their assigned advisor to facilitate timely accommodations.

  • Students are urged to confirm their appointment offered, as it is not always possible to conform appointments to meet a student’s course schedule.
  • Students are required to confirm their appointment promptly (within 24 hours) and attend their appointment as scheduled.
  • Due to the volume of intake appointments, rescheduling may result in a delay of several weeks for another appointment. 

Students are advised to explore supports below:

Academic Supports:

Accessibility Services Programming:

Visit our CLNx calendar for our complete list of programming and stay up to date! Contact as.learning@utoronto.ca for inquiries about our programming.

Mental Health Supports:

Returning or registered students must review topics below:

Accessibility Services is committed to supporting a culture of respect and well-being.
Review our guidelines on interacting respectfully with our staff.