EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Inclusion built into how programs run, not added on after.
VELA works with educational institutions to move from reactive accommodation to proactive inclusion. The work spans speaking, professional development, workshops, policy review, and consultation each grounded in clinical practice and direct institutional experience across accessibility, work-integrated learning/externship, and transition systems.
Who this is for
WIL, Co-op, and Externship offices.
Accessible learning and Accessibility Office.
Career and Employment offices.
Faculty and program leads.
Secondary school staff including teachers, guidance counsellors, and transition teams
Institutional leadership in secondary schools, colleges, and universities
What we offer
Speaking and keynotes
Available for institutional professional development days, conferences, and sector convenings. Presentations draw on published research and direct practice inside Ontario's post-secondary accessibility and WIL systems, built for audiences who need to implement things, not just hear about them.
Topics include neurodiversity and work-integrated learning, autistic burnout in educational settings, Universal Design for Learning in non-traditional post-secondary contexts, disclosure and accommodation at each transition point, and AI in neurodiverse learning contexts.
Professional development and training
Half-day and full-day sessions for WIL and co-op offices, accessible learning and accessibility services, career and employment teams, and faculty. Designed for departments with real caseloads, built around what neurodiverse students actually experience rather than what policy documents assume.
Workshops
Shorter facilitated sessions for high school student services, special education, and transition planning teams supporting students approaching post-secondary entry. Practical and applied, built for the specific pressure points in secondary-to-post-secondary transition.
Consultation & Policy Review
Project-based support for institutions facing a specific challenge or structural gap. A WIL program not reaching neurodiverse students. An accommodation process that stalls at the classroom door. A disconnect between policy and practice. Available for active problem-solving, as well as building or reviewing WIL accessibility guidelines, accommodation frameworks, and transition protocols. The focus is always on what works in practice, not just what holds on paper.
What makes this different
Most institutional consultants arrive at this work from policy, or from practice. Rarely both.
VELA brings seventeen years of direct clinical and educational practice with neurodiverse individuals, alongside almost ten years inside post-secondary accessibility and WIL systems. That combination shapes how the work is designed: Universal Design for Learning, the Social Model of Disability, and Ontological Inclusion applied from the inside out, not imported from outside.
Book a discovery call to talk through your context and what you need.