Humber Polytechnic has issued 90-day layoff notices to all eight Accessibility Consultants, moving to officially eliminate the position from its Student Wellness and Equitable Learning (SWEL) division.
The Polytechnic says the move is in response to “changing operational needs” and emphasizes that it is “not a cost-saving decision.”
Humber says it is switching to the Social Model of Disability, which aligns with the Stepped Care 2.0 framework and its broader vision for inclusive, innovative, and sustainable student services.
Shortly after the announcement of layoffs, the Polytechnic posted positions for an accommodations specialist categorized under support staff.
Currently, the accessibility consultants are under the same collective agreement as full-time teaching faculty.
“We are moving to a support staff model for this work, which exists throughout the post-secondary system,” the Polytechnic said in a statement. “The new tiered-service model within Accessible Learning Services is a learner-centred framework that aligns and supports with the complexity of student needs.”
The social model of disability states that people are disabled not by their medical conditions, but by external barriers, like inaccessible environments and discriminatory attitudes.
Jacqs Stele, a Bachelor of Child and Youth Care student who has used SWEL services for four years, said the situation is “frustrating.”
“These advisors bring value in, like, to our success as students, as well as the college's success, is their own lived experiences with disability,” Stele said. “A lot, if not all, of our advisors are disabled people themselves.”
Accessibility Consultants (ACs) support students with permanent or temporary disabilities, coordinating academic accommodations, assistive technology training, and referrals to both on-campus and external resources.
Stele says accessibility consultants act as vital intermediaries when accommodations are ignored and help neutralize the faculty-student power dynamic.
“There are still professors who don't honour people's accommodations,” Stele said.
“I've seen students bawling their eyes out, crying over the fact that an accommodation wasn't honoured,” Stele said. “And they are too scared to sometimes even get their accessibility consultants involved because of the potential ramifications that that would have on them, from their instructors.”
Stele says students are worried about having to disclose deeply personal information all over again to new staff, which can be emotionally taxing and distressing.
Milos Vasic, the president of Humber’s faculty union, OPSEU Local 562, calls the decision a “corporatization of progressive ideas.”
“Just sit with that for a moment. They're using the social model of disability to lay off some of the only visibly disabled employees at Humber,” Vasic said.
A Humber accessibility consultant has a caseload of more than 400 students per semester.
The union cited a 2023 report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, which called caseloads of 300 or more students for similar roles “extraordinarily high.
“Accessibility consultants have been saying for years, is that their managers don't want to acknowledge that the depth of the commitment and their involvement,” Vasic said.
The layoffs mark what the union describes as a continued downward trend in Humber’s counselling faculty, which includes both mental health counsellors and accessibility consultants.
Since 2019, the number of counselling faculty at Humber has dropped to 15 from 23. After the layoffs, that number will stand at seven.
The union says it has been in a constant “fight” to fill the vacancies as the counselling faculty struggles with worsening burnout.
“They now work in an environment that is quite hostile towards the idea of faculty,” Vasic said. “They haven't been shy about it. I mean, for years, they've been trying to get clarification, okay, where are we going as a unit, as a department?”
In 2022, Humber dismissed half of its mental health counsellors, citing concerns about professional standards. However, the union states that all those let go still hold valid licenses to practice.
The union also highlighted the loss of an Indigenous counsellor who quit and a Black counsellor who was fired, both crucial for culturally responsive services.
The union estimates that more than 60 staff members, including administrative, support, and faculty, have left the Student Wellness and Accessibility Centre(SWAC) department since 2021.
Vasic says the union is not making any statement on the reasons behind the same, but points “for such a relatively small department, that's a staggering number.”
“One of the benefits of the current system for students is that teaching faculty and the accessibility consultants are peers and colleagues,” Vasic said. “If and when questions or conflicts arise with respect to accommodations, it's easier for ALS staff to advocate for students when they are the equals of professors.
“But under the proposed new system, there is the potential for the accommodations process to resemble more of a paperwork exercise,” he said.
The union says the shift potentially means lower wages, reduced benefits, and the loss of seniority and other specific protections for the same job.
Stele says the move comes across as “very ableist” and “targeted.” Though she supports the social model, she is dissatisfied with Humber’s rationale.
“I understand that government funding is an issue,” Stele said. “I have a problem with them [Humber] making the statement that this switch is specifically to help students. If you see what I'm saying, especially if we're not getting more advisors than we already had.”
She added that unless more staff are hired, current challenges in accessing SWAC services are likely to get worse.
The Polytechnic stated the decision had been made after careful consideration and its commitment to student-centric services.
“This model enables proactive, equitable access for all learners while strengthening our responsiveness and capacity.” Humber media relations said. “(The) Social Model of Disability is not an operational model or a new way of working. It is a shift in the philosophical approach to the work.”
Miriam Novick, chief steward for OPSEU Local 562, said they anticipate the college will approach reassignments earnestly and fairly.
“We very much hope that we're going to see a willingness there because if this is operational and not financial, there should be enough money to find other work for people,” Novick says. “And these are people who have decades in total, just years and years of experience at this institution that we think is valuable, that we see has value elsewhere.”
Vasic says Humber’s justification is an example of “talking out of both sides of their mouth.”
Humber President Ann Marie Vaughan told a Feb. 3 town hall at North that students are Humber’s top budgeting priority in response to a question about possible budget changes to student services from Sterling Crowe, Associate Dean of SWEL.
“There's nothing more inspiring to me at Humber than the quality of the unparalleled student experience that we get here. We think about some of the investments we've made in student services in the last number of years. I wanted to be sure that we're not impacting students in our decisions,” Vaughan said.
“The fact that it's our number one principle should be a message to everyone that we really need to ensure that stays first and foremost,” she said.
At its student town hall, IGNITE, Humber’s student union, specifically called for continuous funding for student services, with a focus on SWAC.
“We put a lot of emphasis on student-tailored services. So for me, a big one was SWAC because I think mental health is so, so important,” Naisha Suthaharan, a student advocate at IGNITE, said in a previous interview with Et Cetera.
IGNITE says they met with Jason Seright, VP Inclusion and Belonging and Ian Crookshank, Associate VP Learner and Career Success and Dean of Students this week to share student concerns and “ask about the student impact, their decision-making process and next steps.”
“Our main takeaway is that there will be no negative impact on student counselling services. You may see a variety of new positions regarding student wellness.” IGNITE student advocates said in an Instagram post.
IGNITE says starting from August, SWAC will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30pm to offer extended support. It highlighted that the services offered are for immediate or emergency concerns only.
Stele criticized what she sees as a “lack of transparency" from Humber to students.
“We don't understand why this wasn't more appropriately communicated to us,” she said.
“Everything that I've received from Humber just seems like a very bureaucratic answer and doesn't provide me with the actual ability to understand what the changes are gonna look like moving forward," Stele said.
The faculty union says it has raised concerns to Crookshank and Crowe regarding the caseloads for years, and is trying to get clarification on the potential impacts of the move. However, the union has not received what it considers clear answers.
“I can't stress how little information from our perspective. We've received about how this change is actually going to impact people and our students and how they plan to manage that,” Novick said.
Crookshank didn’t respond to Et Cetera’s request for comment. Crowe directed Et Cetera to Humber media relations.
Humber says its goal is to make a smooth transition while upholding transparency and respect for all employees.
“We recognize that the changes within ALS have raised questions about the impact on faculty roles and the overall number of positions. We are committed to providing clarity and addressing these concerns through ongoing communication and collaboration with the union.”
The faculty union has already filed several grievances and launched a petition demanding that Humber and its board of governors reverse the layoffs and publicly address the issue.
The petition has garnered more than 900 signatures.
“We’ve gone public and we don’t normally do that in disagreements with the college,” Vasic said. “But in this case, this matters to all of us. It matters to our friends and colleagues who have been laid off. It matters to our students.”
Humber, in its official statement, said it is grateful to staff for their years of passion and commitment to the Humber community.
