Mohan: Mobility impacts accessibility persona 

Mohan is an 18-year-old student who uses he/him pronouns. His life motto is “Creating solutions to improve lives”. He’s an international student and is close with his family, who live in his home country.

Mohan uses a wheelchair for mobility. His goal is to complete an internship during his studies and gain the skills he needs for his professional career.

Mohan mainly uses a wheelchair for mobility and has other impacts that can affect him differently from day to day.

Here are some of the things that Mohan needs for an accessible learning environment.

• He is flexible with assistive technology, utilising different types of technology in different scenarios, but usually relies on a keyboard to navigate content. Mohan’s use of technology may vary depending on how he is feeling day-to-day.
• Needs webpages, Canvas sites, and other digital activities to be keyboard operable and accessible with voice commands.  
• Mohan’s physical capacity can vary from day to day, impacting his ability to manipulate objects, turn pages, write with a pen or pencil, type at a keyboard, and/or retrieve research materials. Teachers and classmates should aim to be aware, understanding and willing to assist with small tasks if Mohan requests help.
• Flexibility of class delivery – benefits by having a choice to participate online or on campus as needed. More flexible attendance requirements may be required if Mohan is too fatigued to attend class in-person.

• Rigid protocol that doesn’t allow for flexibility.
• Being excluded from the class discussion, either directly or indirectly.
• Struggling with workload due to fatigue and other factors outside of his control.
• Teacher may not support his usage of assistive technology (might find it disruptive).   
• Teaching staff may not be empathetic to his medical needs (e.g. scheduled appointments) and may still ask for a medical certificate, even though they are aware of Mohan’s condition. 

Online

• Enable automatic dictation, subtitles, or allow Mohan to access group chat records after the class finishes.

On campus

• Accessibility map – a map of campus with the shortest/most direct routes to and from various buildings, accessible toilets marked out, elevators, quiet rooms.
• Access card clearance – automatic security clearance on ID cards to open security gates, shorter routes between buildings etc.

The following resource provides more information about physical disabilities.

• ADCET: Physical disability 

These resources show how you can support students like Mohan.

• Extra time and extensions: reasonable adjustments 
• Attendance requirements: alternative assessments 
• Accessibility checkers: accessible practice    
• ADCET: Reasonable adjustments – Physical disability 

Please note

• Everyone’s access needs are different, and what works for one person may not work for another. 
• Other health conditions can make access needs more complex or change how they show up day to day.
• Some people may have other disabilities they don’t mention if they aren’t relevant, but these may still affect them at times.