Meet our team series
Welcome to the Writing Centre’s Specialists blog series: Meet YorkU’s Writing Centre Team. Over the next few months, we will be highlighting some of the writing experts and specialists at the Writing Centre so you can get to know them better and see how they support students at the Writing Centre!
As part of the Writing Centre’s Specialists blog series, today’s blog post will be highlighting the Writing Centre’s accessibility specialist, Kate Kaul!
Kate Kaul is the accessibility specialist at the Writing Centre, where she prioritizes flexibility and adaptability, focusing on each individual student’s experience.
In her position, Kate enjoys the collaborative aspect of her job, where she gets to learn from every student. She works with students across every field and supports them with her Writing Centre experience, disability experience, training in ESL/ASL, and interdisciplinary academic background.
As Kate puts it,
I’m always really interested in meeting new students; everyone brings new ideas, new puzzles and questions. I try to come up with what they need, something that’s worth their time. Everyone’s time is so valuable.
Any student can schedule appointments with Kate; students who registered with York’s Student Accessibility Services get priority access; they can usually book an appointment each week with the accessibility specialist, in addition to booking an appointment with any writing instructor.
To request more information, or to access the “extra” appointments with the accessibility specialist that aren’t displayed on the schedule, please contact the Writing Centre’s Coordinator, James Robertson at jroberts@yorku.ca. He can add you to the list!
Kate is used to working with diverse learners and she uses flexible learning strategies to meet students’ individual needs.
I always say to students, we can do whatever you want to do for your 50 minutes as long as it has something to do with your academic work. If what we’re doing isn’t working for you, let me know and we’ll try something else. If you have a strategy, you want to try, make a suggestion and if not, I’ll make a suggestion.
— Kate Kaul
Kate emphasizes that at the Writing Centre, students who book accessibility specialist appointments aren’t expected to reveal any details about their accessibility needs. Their privacy is important and stays protected.
I don’t need to know anybody’s diagnosis. I work on the assumption that my skillset will be useful to the people I work with, and if it isn’t, then I try to expand my learning.
— Kate Kaul
It’s particularly important, Kate notes, to make sure students are aware that during the pandemic, the Writing Centre remains open and has completely adapted its services to online delivery.
I want students to know that we’re still here… We’ve finished figuring out how to work online! The Writing Centre’s online platform works well for most students and we can use Zoom if, for example, a student chooses to include an ASL interpreter in their appointment. We can use whatever format works best for you.
However, learning during the pandemic has been challenging for many students. As Kate said, “I always worry a lot about the people we’re not seeing”. She’s dedicated to finding ways to make it easier for students to access their appointments.
As of now, accessibility specialist appointments remain online-only until at least the end of the Winter Term.
As well as welcoming new students, our accessibility specialist really values her ongoing work with students who turn up regularly; “it’s great to check in with them, especially through the pandemic, and see what they are working on and how everyone is doing”, she said.
Her goal as accessibility specialist is to support students in all areas of their critical skills development.
Learn More
To learn more about one-to-one appointments, please visit our registration page. The Writing Centre’s online resources will continue to grow all year! You can also visit the Writing Centre’s blog!
Connect with the Writing Centre on social media! You can follow us on Facebook @writyork, Twitter @yorkuwritcentre, and Instagram @yorkuwritcentre.