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Featured Talk
What happens when you have a disease doctors can’t diagnose (TED Talk by Jennifer Brea)
Jennifer Brea, director of Unrest, was a Harvard PhD student when she became ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), part of a broader family of Infection-associated chronic conditions (IACC) that includes Long COVID, fibromyalgia, and POTS — illnesses that affect over half a million Canadians.
In her TED Talk, she offers a powerful glimpse into what it means to live with one of the most invisible disabilities. For many, severe illness can confine them to their homes or beds, absent from workplaces, schools, and public life, and therefore often unseen by society. She illuminates the long history of underfunding and neglect that has surrounded these conditions, shaped in part by gender bias, and invites reflection on the human cost of this invisibility — the physical, emotional, and social impacts that define patients’ experiences of care. Her story invites us to reflect on how we can continue building a more inclusive learning and working environment, one that helps make the invisible visible in our classrooms, clinics, and research practices.
Workplace
UBC Accessibility Hub
Equity & Inclusion Office
A central entry point for accessibility at UBC. It connects students, faculty and staff with services and resources in place to advance accessibility and meet the needs of the disabled community. It includes:
- Accessible & Inclusive Event Planning
Checklist for planning accessible in-person, hybrid, and virtual events (spaces, captioning, sensory considerations, food).
Centre for Workplace Accessibility (CWA)
UBC Human Resources
Confidential, person-centred support for disability-related access at work—without requiring medical disclosure. The team helps with ergonomic assessments, assistive tech, captioning/ASL, accessible communication, and formal accommodation planning.
- Workplace Accommodation Fund
Supports disability-related accommodations for faculty and staff at UBC
Workplace Learning – Accessibility Stream
UBC Human Resources
Self-paced modules and live workshops on disability inclusion, accessible meetings, hybrid work, digital accessibility, and inclusive communication.
Duty to Accommodate – Employer Responsibilities
BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner
Plain-language guidance on employer obligations under BC law, including what constitutes “undue hardship.”
Accessibility Toolkit for Documents, Slides, and Media
BCcampus Open Education
Step-by-step guidance for making Word, PDF, PowerPoint, images, and video accessible.
Education, Teaching & Learning
CTLT Accessibility Resources
Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT)
Comprehensive hub for accessible teaching and learning at UBC. Start here when designing a course.
Accessibility & Accommodation Courses and Guides
EIO
Curated learning for accessible teaching, and exams.
Universal Design for Learning Resources for Teaching & Learning
UBC UDL Hub
Comprehensive hub for Universal Design for Learning. It includes an Accessibility Corner which provides resources on accessibility in the context of teaching and material development.
Universal Design in Health Education
REDI
A short, FoM-specific introduction to Universal Design with examples for learning and working environments.
CAST UDL Guidelines
CAST
UDL evidence-based principles for flexible, accessible teaching and assessment.
Research
OPTIMISE Recommendations for Designing Inclusive Consent Processes
CONSULT & OPTIMISE Research Programme
Practical recommendations for making consent and recruitment processes inclusive for people with sensory, cognitive, communication, or energy-limiting disabilities. Includes strategies for plain language, flexible formats, timing adjustments, and supportive environments—so participation doesn’t depend on disclosure or extra effort.
From Intention to Impact: CIHR Anti-Ableism Action Plan
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Centers disabled voices with 32 actionable commitments to remove systemic barriers in health research. Focuses on funding, research priorities, allocation processes, and organizational culture—aiming to make research environments accessible, equitable, and accountable
BC SUPPORT Unit – Inclusive Research & Patient Partnership
BC SUPPORT Unit
Training and tools for co-designing research with disabled community partners, compensating lived-experience contributors, and ensuring accessibility in ethics and recruitment.
Clinical Settings
Am I Ableist? Disability in Healthcare Education
Disabled Medical Residents & Advocates
Self-paced interactive learning exploring how ableism shows up in care interactions, documentation, professionalism norms, and training.
VCH Accessibility Resources
Vancouver Coastal Health
Publicly available programs supporting accessible care, communication, and navigation.
WHO Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities
World Health Organization
Evidence-based recommendations to integrate disability inclusion into health systems and clinical education.
Lived Experiences & Disability Justice
Wingspan Disability Arts, Culture & Public Pedagogy
UBC Initiative
Connects disability arts and public pedagogy.
Crip Camp
Documentary & Educator Guide
A documentary tracing the disability rights movement from a summer camp to federal civil rights legislation.
Sins Invalid – Disability Justice Primer
Sins Invalid Collective
Short, accessible introduction to disability justice principles created by queer, disabled, BIPOC organizers.
Unrest
Documentary
A powerful documentary sharing lived experiences of people with ME/CFS, exposing systemic neglect and the fight for recognition.
The Accessible Stall
Podcast
Frank conversations about disability culture, daily life, and ableism.