Access (Accommodation) Services and Academic Success Services - Students with Disabilities

Educational Attendant providers, under the direction of the student, primarily provide physical assistance to students:

• Navigating physical classroom environments
• Using equipment in applied learning environments
• Positioning, holding and physically manipulating materials/items where applicable
• Personal care supports while on campus including lifts and transfers and non-emergency medical assistance
• The student must be able to direct their own service

Educational Attendants will need access to attending the course (in person or virtually for online courses).

Occasionally, in complex cases, an Educational Attendant (or personal care attendant) will provide assistance with monitoring or assisting with medication administration, management of seizure disorders or lifting/positioning for mobility. These providers are required to be trained to perform that task and do not work for the college.

Students hiring Educational Attendants for substantial physical and mobility barriers, typically hire service providers trained through the Vancouver Island Health Authority or they seek service providers from upper level students taking courses (or who have completed) through the Schools of Nursing, Exercise and Physical Health Science (i.e. Kinesiology) or Child and Youth Care or related fields.

Educational attendant funding typically comes from permanent disability grants made available for students to apply to from government. Government providing funding expects attendant care providers to be trained/certified according to their provincial/territorial regulatory body.

Educational attendants are not employees of Camosun College. Students select and contract privately with service providers from the community. While the college does not direct or oversee these service providers, it does draw their attention to the need to operate within their role and scope.