Although Samantha Alleman isn't the student leaving the college, she says this ramp is difficult for anyone in a wheelchair to use, as the hand rails are spaced too far apart.

By Tommy Osborne

CNC Accessibility

College of New Caledonia student leaving due to accessibility concerns

Mar 21, 2025 | 5:21 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – College of New Caledonia (CNC) student Max Hirt will be leaving the College to pursue education elsewhere, as Hirt says CNC was not accessible enough. Diagnosed with ADHD and autism, as well as an auditory processing disorder, Hirt explained they tried to get several accessible options but unfortunately, could not get what they needed.

“It’s been a challenge to get my accommodations from day one. The first semester was all right, but it’s been very downhill from there,” Hirt said.

“I’ve had instructors who have accused me of cheating because I have extra time on exams. I have been fighting for nearly the entire time I’ve been here to get some form of closed captioning or overview of topics in video resources for my classes, but it’s always been no. The worst part is that there’s never really been a clear reason why,” Hirt continued.

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Hirt explained their audio processing disorder means going through some materials can take two or three times longer than the average student, but the closed captioning could solve this. However, the lack of closed captioning, or closed captioning that is so inaccurate as to be more of a hindrance than a help, has made pursuing an education at CNC incredibly challenging.

“I’ve been assured repeatedly:’ we’re going to fix it this semester, it’ll be different next semester, but it never is.’ And there’s never been any sort of information on what will be different next semester, only that it will be different,” Hirt said.

While these challenges led to Hirt’s choice to leave CNC, one current student says physical accessibility has been a big challenge too. Samantha Alleman is currently in a wheelchair due to a brain injury, and explained there are some classes that are incredibly difficult to get to.

“There are certain rooms that are completely inaccessible to me. Or my chair will barely fit in — and I have a thinner chair — where it’s literally rubbing both the doorframe sides,” Alleman said.

Getting to certain classrooms can take a lot of extra movement to take specific elevators that are needed, as Alleman explained some accommodations aren’t accessible. For example, on the third floor there is a wheelchair ramp, but it requires a key from a security guard to use, so it’s not always usable when you need it.

“When I last talked to them, they couldn’t even find the key,” Alleman said.

The wheelchair lift on the third floor

Other concerns include a ramp on the first floor, which while up to code, has hand rails spaced so far apart it can be challenging to go up, and dangerous to go down.

“One of the reasons why it’s so dangerous going up and pushing on the wheels is pulling wheelies. You can go backwards, which I have done once before, and ended up with another head injury. I had to go back to hospital for that one,” Alleman said.

CNC’s Director of Learning Commons and Academic Success Centre Ignacio Albarracin says he can’t comment on specific student cases, but says the College takes any accessibility concerns seriously.

“Any of our students, including these students, are still welcome to meet with us. I’m happy to work with them, if they’ll work with us, to try to address these barriers. We don’t want to see any student leave because they couldn’t fulfill their academic needs here because of accessibility challenges,” he said.

“If things aren’t working, let us know. It’s my role as director to to jump in and make sure that we’re addressing all the barriers, and I understand that they’re not all physical barriers. Some things might just be educating and supporting faculty to understand what what our obligations are,” he continued.

Albarracin added CNC is currently updating its accessibility policies to streamline any concerns a student may have, to hopefully get them what they need in a more timely manner.

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