Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
Accessible science, built together
The ACCESS Lab studies how disability is experienced across biomedical research, health care, education and STEM workplaces. We work alongside people with lived experience to build fairer systems of research, education and care.
How would you like to get involved?
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For community organizations
Partner with us
Co-create research and learning with us, from the first question to sharing what we find.
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For people with lived experience
Share your story
Help train tomorrow's researchers and healthcare providers. Take part in an interview or share in another accessible format.
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For students and professionals
Study accessibility in biomedicine
The Graduate Diploma and Master of Applied Science in Accessibility in Biomedicine are offered fully online, in English or French, at the University of Ottawa.
Now inviting participants
Lived Experience in the Biomedical Ecosystem
Do you live with a disability, chronic illness, a neurodivergent condition, a mental health condition, or another experience that has shaped how you interact with healthcare, biomedical or clinical research, or education? Your story will help train future biomedical researchers, clinical researchers, and healthcare providers at the University of Ottawa.
Your lived experience is a form of expertise.
What ACCESS stands for
Our name brings together six ideas at the centre of our work.
- AAccessibility
- CCitizenship
- CCommunity
- EEquity
- SScience
- SSociety
How we work
Lived experience
We partner with people with lived experience of disability and chronic health conditions to understand how research, education and health care are experienced in everyday life.
Storytelling
We create opportunities to share lived experience through research, education and public engagement. These stories help shape more accessible and inclusive systems.
Accessibility education
We help train the next generation of accessibility leaders through graduate education focused on inclusion, accessibility and systems change.
Co-creation
We bring together community members, learners, researchers, clinicians and organizations to create knowledge and drive meaningful change.
Indigenous affirmation
On unceded Algonquin territory
We pay respect to the Algonquin people, who are the traditional guardians of this land. We acknowledge their longstanding relationship with this territory, which remains unceded. We pay respect to all Indigenous people in this region, from all nations across Canada, who call Ottawa home. We acknowledge the traditional knowledge keepers, both young and old. And we honour their courageous leaders: past, present, and future.
At the ACCESS Lab, our work asks who belongs in science, health care and education, and whose knowledge counts. We recognize that Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous people living with disability, continue to face barriers in systems shaped by colonization.
We commit to learning from Indigenous knowledge keepers and communities, and to building research relationships grounded in respect, reciprocity and accountability.
Adapted from the University of Ottawa Indigenous affirmation, which is also available in Anishinàbemowin.