The following information has been compiled to provide visitors with detailed information about our office and its accessibility considerations. We have compiled this information in an attempt to address any accessibility barriers that our visitors may potentially experience when accessing our services. This information is organized into disability/illness categories that can be specifically reviewed if these are relevant to your experience, as well as general accessibility information related to our office that may be helpful for most visitors to know.

Please let us know if you think we have missed any important accessibility information on this webpage, or if you have any questions or concerns related to our office’s accessibility. Feel free to contact us by emailing our office at caladmin@sfu.ca or calling our office at (778)782-3112 and leaving us a voicemail message.

The organization of this webpage has been created using Radical Access Mapping’s disability/illness categories and draws inspiration from Victoria Sexual Assault Centre’s “Our Space and Accessibility” webpage.

General Accessibility Information

Parking

• Full size PDF of the above Accessibility Map
• The closest visitor parking is in the Central Parkade, which is located beneath Convocation Mall. As you drive north up Burnaby Mountain via Gaglardi Way (indicated with a red line on the above map), turn right past the roundabout, past the Athletic Field on your left and the SFU Welcome Pole on your right. Please stay in the right lane as you pass the Campus Security Booth and then turn right into the Central Parkade as you enter the underpass. Drive up the ramp to the top floor, park, and then pay for parking at the pay station located in the parkade.

• There is Visitor parking throughout this level of the parkade and two accessible visitor parking spaces located on the South side of the top floor of the Central Parkade. These parking spaces are closest to the ticket vending machine (parking space numbers 337 and 338). All visitor parking, including accessible parking, must be purchased from the ticket vending machine or through the PassportParking app. 

• Please note: A valid SPARC PLACARD must be displayed while parked within the accessible visitor parking spaces. Vehicles with no valid SPARC PLACARD parked within the accessible visitor parking spaces are subject to ticketing and or impoundment at the owners/drivers expense. 

• Proceed through the automatic doors at the South side of the parkade into the Maggie Benston Centre (MBC). Once inside the MBC building, please take the stairs or elevator down one floor (press “8” if using the elevator) as the Centre is located in suite MBC 1250.

  • Upper Level Visitor Parking Fees

                        $3.25 Per Hour;

                        $13.00 All Day Rate

                        $6.50 Evenings and Weekend All Day Rate

• For Assistance with the Ticket Vending Machine, please contact: SFU Parking Services (778)782-5534.

Public Transportation

• The Centre for Accessible Learning is located at SFU’s Burnaby Campus MBC 1250 in the Maggie Benston Centre. To plan your trip to our Centre, please access the following resources to help navigate transportation means and your preferred travelling route. If you have any trouble finding your way, please contact the Centre at 778-782-3112. 

Travelling by Bus:

• You can access the Maggie Benston Centre (MBC) from the SFU Transportation Centre @ Bay 2. Bus routes serving this stop: 

• To get updates on next departure time or route information, you can search by your bus stop (a 5-digit number) at Translink Trip Planner. The 5 digit bus stop number for SFU Transportation Centre @ Bay 2 is 52806 .

• For an accessible route from SFU Transportation Centre @ Bay 2 to MBC, please read the following directions:

  • In order to get from SFU Transportation Centre @ Bay 2 to MBC, head southeast towards the Rotunda and cross Gaglardi Way and the crosswalk. Once across the street, keep heading south under the school. There will be an elevator on the right hand (West) side of this crosswalk. Once inside the elevator, press number 3 (note that these are non-braille buttons with tactile numbering). Once on the third floor, head east and exit the building (automatic doors). Continue heading east. You will find MBC’s entrance on your right hand side (located opposite WAC Bennett Library).

Travelling by Skytrain:

• You can access the Maggie Benston Centre along the Millennium Line with the following transfers:

Route A. Sperling-Burnaby Lake Station: Transfer at Sperling Station @ Bay 2 for 144 SFU

Route B. Production Way-University Station: Transfer at Production Way Station @ Bay 1 for 145 SFU

Alternative Transportation Options:

If you are looking for other transportation options on SFU Burnaby Campus, please visit SFU Parking & Sustainable Mobility’s page for information on Carpooling, Campus Community Shuttle, Electric Vehicles, and additional travelling resources to meet your needs.

Cycling 

• Try using this Interactive Ride Planner to navigate live biking routes at SFU Burnaby Campus. Instructions: To generate a route that arrives at Maggie Benston Centre, place the destination of your ride at Maggie Benston Centre and place the other end of the location marker at your location. You can create plans for print or save upon login.

• You can store your bike at the nearby bike rack at the Southeast exterior of Maggie Benston Centre (off of Science Road). For other available locations to store your bike, please download the SFU bike rack direction map.

• To find out more popular biking trails on Burnaby Mountain, you can browse status and reports, photos, live videos and other information of a trail at TrailForks’ interactive trail map.

You can also access the 2019 Burnaby Bike Map prepared by the City of Burnaby.

Washroom Accessibility 

• On each floor of the MBC most washrooms are located down a small corridor on the northwest corner, which also contains the service elevator, public telephones, and a drinking fountain. These washrooms are identical in design and are accessible (heavy push doors).

• 0000 level: WOMEN’S 042 / MEN’S 043.

• 1000 level: WOMEN’S 142 / MEN’S 143 / ALL GENDER SINGLE-STALL 147 (heavy push door leading into corridor).

• 2000 level: WOMEN’S 242 / MEN’S 243 / ALL GENDER SINGLE-STALL 247.

            WOMEN’S 249 / MEN’S 250, south end, east side, area behind photocopiers, next to Print Shop (push door).

• 3000 level: WOMEN’S 342 / MEN’S 343 / ALL GENDER SINGLE-STALL 348 (this is the only level that has an AUTOMATIC DOOR with push button activation).

• 4000 level: WOMEN’S 411 / MEN’S 410. 

Information Related to Specific Disability/Illness Categories

Blind/Low Vision

• There are both tactile and braille identification numbers in elevators within the Maggie Benston Centre.

• There are 24 steps on the staircase between MBC level 2000 to level 1000. These stairs have continuous handrails on both sides of the staircase. Tenji blocks (tactile warning surfaces) are located at the start of each staircase within MBC. Anti-slip tread is located on stair nosings, providing visual contrast between steps and increased safety.

• Our website contains contrast for easier reading.

• All of the documents/forms contained on our website have been checked using JAWS to ensure functionality while using screen-readers.

• If you experience barriers to accessing information contained within materials on our website, our staff are available to assist you. Please reach out to us at caladmin@sfu.ca or via phone to (778)782-3112 to let us know if you require assistance in accessing/converting materials on our website.

• If step counts are helpful, there are approximately:   
• 55 steps between the doors of the Central Parkade to the 2000 level elevator 
• 30 steps between the elevator and our office
• 60 steps between our office’s doors and the closest fully accessible washroom
• 55 steps between our office’s doors and the closest water fountain
• 75 steps between our office’s doors and the closest outdoor green space

Deaf and Hard of Hearing

• You can reach our office by emailing us at caladmin@sfu.ca. CAL staff actively monitor our email during the Centre’s regular office hours (weekdays from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM).

• CAL also conducts virtual front desk meetings via Zoom. No appointment is necessary, and you can connect directly and confidentially to the CAL front desk staff, who are available to offer general guidance and arrange further appointments where needed. Please email us to let us know if you require interpretive services or Zoom’s live speech-to-text transcription feature enabled prior to joining a Zoom session. To display live transcriptions and change captioning sizes during your Zoom session, see IT’s How-To Guide on Live Transcription. If you are more comfortable using Zoom’s chat function to communicate with desk staff, feel free to do so. Front desk staff are available on the following dates and times to meet with you on a first-come first-served basis:

Monday               2:30pm - 3:30pm        Click here to join Zoom session

Tuesday              10:30am - 11:30am     Click here to join Zoom session

Thursday            12:00pm - 1:00pm       Click here to join Zoom session

Friday                 1:00pm - 2:00pm        Click here to join Zoom session

• Interpretive services are available on an as-needed basis with notice. Please inform the staff member who is setting up your appointment that you will require CART or interpretive services (e.g., ASL) so that there is opportunity to arrange the service prior to the meeting.  

• Videos on our website contain open-captioning.

Guide and Service Dogs

• All guide and service dogs are welcome in our space.

• Owners may access water for their guide and service dogs from a drinking fountain located on the northwest corner of the MBC 2000 level (the same floor that our office is located on). If step counts are helpful, there are approximately 55 steps between our Centre and this drinking fountain.

Please note: the Centre is not able to provide water bowls for guide and service dogs.

• The closest green space is a short distance from our office. This is a large uncovered, outdoor space to the rear of MBC. If step counts are helpful, there are approximately 75 steps between the Centre and this green space.

Learning Disabilities/ADHD/ADD

• Our website’s text font is sans-serif for clear and easy reading. 

Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Scent Reduction

• Our office is considered to be a scent-reduced environment. Promoting a scent-reduced environment means that our office strives to create a scent-free space; however, we cannot guarantee a fully scent-free environment. CAL recognizes that our space is located within a public building, and that our services are open to the public.

• We try to make our space as scent-reduced as we can:

All staff have been notified that they must arrive to work scent-free.

We kindly ask that all our visitors who have scheduled appointments at the Centre arrive scent-free. We integrate a scent-free request within all appointment reminders for those visiting the Centre.

We have signage that promotes our scent-reduced environment located on our office’s publicly-facing door and on the doors of our shared exam spaces.

 Please note: if someone arrives scented, we will not ask them to leave, but we may  provide a friendly reminder for them to arrive scent-free next time.

Sensory Processing

• Although the Centre tries to reduce sensory stimuli, our office is located within a public building and ambient noises can be heard from within our office.

• If you have particular needs pertaining to sensory stimuli, please let us know so that we can make necessary adjustments to address your needs (e.g., scheduling appointments in offices at SFU that are less busy, turning lighting down/off). 

Visitors with Attendants, Interpreters, and Support Persons

• All visitors are welcomed to bring attendants, interpreters, and support persons to our office. 

• Attendants, interpreters, and support persons are welcome to assist/support our visitors during their intake appointments.

• Staff at the Centre are generally knowledgeable about best practice surrounding communication with individuals who use attendants, interpreters, and support persons.

• Parents may call our Centre on behalf of their child provided that the child has given our office permission to speak with parents on behalf of their children.

Wheelchair/Scooter User and Mobility Limited

• Our office can generally be accessed by those using wheelchairs and scooters.

• The main set of public elevators is centrally located, on the north side of MBC.

*Elevators go to all floors of the building: levels 7 (0000), 8 (1000 - CAL is located on this level), 9 (2000) and 10 (3000) (levels in brackets correspond with the MBC room numbering system).

*The service elevator of MBC is located down the washroom corridors on the northwest corner. It goes to levels 7 (0000), 8 (1000), 9 (2000) and 10 (3000). Access to the 4000 level for The Study Public House requires a key.

• Exterior Access:

*3000 level: North side. From Convocation Mall (AUTOMATIC DOOR with push button activation at the far west door, closest to the SFU Bookstore).

*2000 level: North side. From the underground parking lot (two sets of AUTOMATIC DOORS with push button activation, leading to a descending ramp with a lip at the doorway).

*1000 level: Northwest side. Through the heavy push doors that lead to the washroom corridor, there is an exit on the left side, pass the service elevator and out a descending ramp, into the Security and Information area.

• Our main office door is automated. To activate the door’s automatic opening mechanism, push the button located on the left hand side of the door. This door handle is a push door handle from the outside. 

• Our office’s reception desk can accommodate wheelchair users. 

• All doors within the Centre are 42 inches wide. 

• Our office is single-level with even floors.

• All hallways within MBC provide adequate maneuvering room.