Yasmin Atwal is a Canadian university student, disability rights advocate, and the developer of an 81-page National School Disability Inclusion Toolkit designed to help schools implement practical, scalable, and legally informed accessibility practices.
In this article, Yasmin explains about the urgent need for schools to adopt inclusive policies and how free toolkits like hers can support meaningful, system-level change.
When asked why I advocate for disability rights, I explain that my journey began with my family. My cousins have taught me much about disability—from navigating education systems and advocating for accessible spaces to fostering community and growing stronger in the face of adversity.
One has autism. Another has phocomelia, where she was born with the absence of an arm. She has a flipper-like appendage. While their disabilities and experiences are vastly different, I noticed one trend growing up: barriers were everywhere. Physical barriers. Social barriers. Barrier after barrier is created by what people don’t know or don’t understand about disability.
Looking around as a child, I questioned why it seemed people with disabilities were only included if teachers, schools, or organisations happened to know about accessibility or wanted to learn more. Why were accommodations or aides sometimes seen as special treatment rather than equal access? Why did most students, schools, and families have minimal knowledge about disability rights? Why were students with disabilities expected to conform to systems designed without them? They were expected to fit into ableist systems. Those questions have followed me into adulthood.
Today, I am a university student, a disability rights advocate, founder of the National Accessible Schools Initiative and the National Disability Advisory Council. I am also a certified Disability Rights Consultant and a certified Human Rights Consultant.
Between starting local conversations about accessibility and presenting at international conferences on topics such as disability inclusion, human rights, education, and legislative change, I have learned that having good intentions is not enough to create change. Knowledge is essential. Practical tools and accessible resources are necessary. Without accountability and proactive involvement from organisations and institutions, there will always be gaps in accessibility. schools and education.
Read: SEND Reforms: Will This Create True Inclusion In Mainstream Schools For Disabled Children?
The barriers that students with disabilities face in schools
Schools are increasingly where children learn about disability. They can learn what accessibility and accommodation are, why we need equity, and how inclusion looks.
Despite legislative advances and improved protections, many schools still face massive obstacles when it comes to inclusion. Teachers want to assist students with disabilities but may not know where to start. Families are often not aware of their rights. Students do not know what accommodations are available or why they matter.
Disability inclusion is viewed as something niche or only relating to students with disabilities, rather than a fundamental necessity. This disconnect creates a gap between intent and action. A school might have great accessibility policies, but students could still encounter barriers. A district might have a robust inclusion strategy, but teachers may lack the knowledge of how to apply the principles. Countries can pass legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities, but those laws mean little if not everyone understands them and if they lack knowledge regarding implementation.
I started to realise that although laws are necessary, they are only one piece of the puzzle. One of the biggest barriers facing students with disabilities is a lack of awareness. A lack of education. A lack of resources. Teachers do not know where to start. Families not being informed about their rights. Students with disabilities being told to explain their needs to those who may not know how to listen or accommodate them.
The creation of the National School Disability Inclusion Toolkit
In early 2025, I began creating the National School Disability Inclusion Toolkit. I began working on what I thought would be a small resource toolkit for students with disabilities and their parents. What I ended up creating was an 81-page National School Disability Inclusion Toolkit aimed at helping schools do more than just meet statutory requirements. I wanted to provide resources to help schools truly embrace inclusion.
This toolkit was built through extensive research, consultations with experts, including disability advocates, educators, lawyers, and people with lived experience. It also involved conversations with friends and advocates from many disability communities.
The final product is a comprehensive 81 page resource that addresses:
- Disability rights and legal literacy
- Navigating accessibility and accommodations
- Universal Design for Learning
- Fostering inclusive school culture
- Communicating about disability
- Assistive technology
- Ensuring accessibility beyond the classroom
- Inclusive STEM
- Involvement in disability advocacy and allyship
- Action planning to implement what you learn
At the heart of the toolkit is a simple concept: inclusion should not be reactive. Inclusion should be planned. Schools should plan to include all students ahead of time, not listen to one student’s accessibility needs and suddenly try to determine how to accommodate them.
Although this toolkit is primarily tailored for Canadian schools, educators from other countries can also benefit from many of the elements to improve disability inclusion in their own schools.
Download the National School Disability Inclusion Toolkit
Turning the Disability Inclusion Toolkit into an actionable cause
While working on the toolkit, I realised that information isn’t useful if individuals don’t know it exists. Nor is it enough for good resources to simply be available to the public. They need to be accessible.
At that point, I turned my toolkit into an actionable cause. I developed a free online course providing learning modules anyone can complete. Educators, school administrators, parents, and community members can learn about creating accessible and inclusive schools at their own pace.
Students with disabilities have the right to feel welcome at school. They deserve schools to make accessibility and inclusion a priority rather than putting these ideas on the back burner and hoping for the best. My course goes beyond recommending changes.
Participants will learn about:
- Accessibility and accommodation requirements
- Strategies for implementing change
- Disability awareness and how to be an ally
- Actionable steps they can take to ensure students with disabilities can enter school communities feeling confident and comfortable advocating for themselves
Accessibility starts with education. When teachers know how to create accessible classrooms, students benefit. When school boards know how to plan for inclusion from the ground up, everyone benefits.
Amplifying young disabled voices through disability advocacy
Another lesson I learned is that individuals with disabilities need to be the key players. Disabled people should always be consulted when it comes to decisions that impact them. Creating change, taking action, and moving forward means ensuring people with disabilities are at the table. Not only as lawyers. Not only as advocates. But as students, teachers, friends, family members and community members.
This is why I created the National Disability Advisory Council. Members of this council represent various communities and disabilities. They are experts by way of lived experience. They’ve been consulted by organisations before. But they want more than to be consulted. They want to see real change. They want to help lead the change.
This council allows people from disability communities across Canada to come together and collaborate on ways to create more accessible and inclusive environments. Whether it’s consulting on a project or working together to shine a light on an issue at the national level, this group wants to help make the world more accessible for everyone.
Too often, decisions about disabled people are made without consulting disabled people. To move forward, we cannot speak for people with disabilities. We must speak with them.
One common misunderstanding I encounter is that the work of disability advocacy is up to lawmakers, lawyers, educators, or established organisations. Adults do have an important role to play. But youth voices also have an important role.
Kids and teens are some of the most important advocates for accessibility and inclusion. They offer unique perspectives, speak up about issues, and can spark change like no other. We should not underestimate youth and their ability to create the change they want to see. Students are the future, and my own journey demonstrates that age should never be viewed as a barrier to advocacy.
Youth can continue their advocacy through many different media. I run a YouTube channel called Yasmins Legal Lounge, where I educate youth about practical legal knowledge for teens. I wrote an award-winning book titled The Human Code: Law Through Our Eyes, where youth are educated about human rights, justice and their responsibilities. (Also available on Amazon UK)
Read: Reimagining Accessible Sex Education For People With Learning Disabilities
Global advocacy, leadership, and recognition
Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to discuss my work on international stages, including at the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum on accessibility and legal literacy. I was a keynote speaker and the youngest speaker at COSP19, which is the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at United Nations Headquarters.
In mid-June, I spoke at the International Conference for Disability and Public Policy in Rome, and later this year, I am speaking at the World Disability Conference in Bali and the World Congress on Special Education in Oxford.
I have also had the opportunity to present my toolkit to school board trustees, special education committees of school boards and to local members of parliament.
I also had the honour to be awarded the Rick Hansen Foundation Difference Maker of the Year, Top 20 under 20 for global impact and the Top Youth Human Rights Award for Canada in 2026.
While these recognitions are meaningful, they are not the goal. My goal is to help students with disabilities feel like they have a place to learn. My goal is to spread awareness and understanding of disability rights. My goal is to teach people about accessibility so that it is not treated as an afterthought.
I hope that one day no student will feel excluded because someone didn’t consider them when planning an event or program. Advocacy is challenging. Progress can be slow. But taking small steps can lead to big changes. Fighting for disability inclusion is fighting for dignity, belonging, and opportunity. It’s fighting for human rights.
You can find out more about Yasmin Atwal and her disability advocacy work by visiting her website.
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