Health and wellness
“Always a way forward”: Meet new CAL counselor Sean Heaslip
By Julie Ovenell
In high school, Sean Heaslip couldn’t see the blackboard. Or, for that matter, his future.
Diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease at age eight, SFU’s new Centre for Accessible Learning (CAL) counsellor found himself in Grade 11 weighing the shame of using a magnifying monocular against the shame of failing math. (He passed—barely.)
“That was the starting point,” says Heaslip, who now moves through life with the aid of a mobility cane. “It was the first time I understood that my deep embarrassment about needing extra help and accommodations could be really limiting. It was a big step forward on the long road toward my own disability acceptance.”
It wasn’t always a smooth journey; it took time for Heaslip to feel comfortable using the services and accommodations that were available to him. “Asking for help often triggers feelings of being a burden,” he notes. And it took even more time for a career path to emerge. But in 2013, after a challenging start to his post-secondary education, Heaslip graduated from SFU with a BA in psychology—an accomplishment he generously credits to CAL (then known as the Centre for Students with Disabilities).
“At SFU it was almost foreign to me to have so many people following up because I just expected everything to go wrong! But the staff always went above and beyond. There was always someone who would make time to help me, whether it was finding apps for technology, looking for sources of funding, or helping navigate challenges with systems and professors. I didn’t know how to do any of that—and I came away with important self-advocacy skills that I’ve relied on since. My time at SFU was critically important; I wouldn’t have been able to engage in the world without that step.”
It wasn’t always a smooth journey; it took time for Heaslip to feel comfortable using the services and accommodations that were available to him. “Asking for help often triggers feelings of being a burden,” he notes. And it took even more time for a career path to emerge. But in 2013, after a challenging start to his post-secondary education, Heaslip graduated from SFU with a BA in psychology—an accomplishment he generously credits to CAL (then known as the Centre for Students with Disabilities).
“At SFU it was almost foreign to me to have so many people following up because I just expected everything to go wrong! But the staff always went above and beyond. There was always someone who would make time to help me, whether it was finding apps for technology, looking for sources of funding, or helping navigate challenges with systems and professors. I didn’t know how to do any of that—and I came away with important self-advocacy skills that I’ve relied on since. My time at SFU was critically important; I wouldn’t have been able to engage in the world without that step.”
Now a registered clinical counsellor who is about to complete a PhD in counselling psychology from UBC, Heaslip has returned to SFU in a new role he helped identify and develop during his recent doctoral internship: a part-time counselling position to serve the unique needs of students with disabilities.
“SFU has a lot of targeted health and counselling programming,” he says, “but not so much for disabled students. I saw an opportunity to create an access point for that population.”
“Sean knows SFU as both a student and an employee with disabilities, and has much to offer our institution,” says CAL director Mitch Stoddard.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Dec. 3, 2020
Five ideas for how to approach this annual day of recognition from Centre for Accessible Learning counsellor Sean Heaslip and Disability and Neurodiversity Alliance executive member Vicki Parnell:
- Ask yourself: are there ways that we are excluding people unintentionally? What can I do? How can I help?
- Be curious about what living with a disability is like: educate yourself from another person’s point of view!
- If you are a person in a majority group, you have a duty to be brave and curious! Even if it feels awkward, make the effort to get to know someone who is different from you. Ask questions! Knowing that you tried is more important than avoiding a person because you’re worried about offending them.
- Have empathy for the people around you who may be acting in ways that don’t make sense to you: they may be living with an “invisible” disability.
- It is the responsibility of the majority group to ask—and then answer—the hard questions: why are people who receive disability benefits living on less than a living wage? Why is the unemployment rate for disabled people so high? Why did it take so long for disabled people to receive support benefits during the pandemic?
Vicki Parnell, an executive member of SFU’s student-led Disability and Neurodiversity Alliance, agrees: “It’s a really encouraging step. It’s empowering for disabled students to have the option of working with a counsellor who can empathize with their lived experience. And the more often we see disabled people in a variety of roles, the more it helps to emphasize that disabled people are a part of the university community, doing the same things everyone does: Sean is a counsellor who just happens to be disabled.”
Now, with his return to SFU, Heaslip is excited to begin what he calls “the most meaningful work I’ve done to date.
“I believe that my life challenges, and the work I had to do on myself, have greatly influenced my ability to work with people who are struggling for whatever reason. It is affirming and rewarding to work with people living with all different types of disability and find a unifying connection through experiences of marginalization.”
And so, all these years later, what advice does Heaslip-the-counsellor wish he could give to Sean-the-struggling-student?
“I would tell him: ‘Wherever you’re at is fine. However long it takes you is fine. And when you’re ready, look for the supports. There is always a way forward.”
For a comprehensive list of supports available at SFU, visit the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Resource Guide.