Community Engagement and Consultations
Community engagement is vital to advancing equity and inclusion at the University of Waterloo. Members of equity-denied groups face unique barriers that other University community members do not. This includes persons with disabilities who face barriers that include attitudes, systemic processes, and physical design. The views of equity-denied groups, including disabled persons, are often not well represented in decision-making processes and thus result in amplified barriers within our institution. Participation is a fundamental human rights principle, and we must include the voices of disabled persons in all the work occurring on campus. Community engagement with disabled persons will result in our projects better serving the disability community and reaching more accessible outcomes.
The Community Engagement Guide aims to support decision-making on when and how to engage with members of equity-denied groups as a way to support the integration of lived experiences into University of Waterloo projects and processes. The common adage “nothing about us without us” iterates the importance of lived experiences as central to leading and advancing accessibility and inclusion.
Developed collaboratively in 2025 by the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti‑Racism Office (EDI‑R), the Office of Indigenous Relations, and Campus Support and Accessibility, the Guide responds to colleagues’ call for a clearer and more unified approach to inclusive engagement. With identities being intersectional and multi‑layered, these offices recognized the need for a single, centralized resource to help colleagues engage communities meaningfully, consistently, and with care.
This Guide complements the work of the Inclusive Event Guide for Student Leaders from the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), which offers proactive considerations for accessible and inclusive events.
What is Community Engagement?
Community engagement is a formal process in which we can value our community members' voices, ideas, and lived experiences. The Guide considers community engagement as a broader set of strategic processes that aim to empower and involve equity-denied communities beyond limited consultations.
It is vital that we acknowledge that community engagement at the University of Waterloo is often done from a position of power and privilege. We must meaningfully design all community engagement with a user-centered approach that incorporates purposeful decolonization efforts and recognition of intersectional equity-deserving identities.
Core Principles of Equitable Community Engagement
The guide builds on five overarching principles that are essential to planning for inclusive and equitable community engagement:
- We value our community members and must center their voices and ideas in each of our projects.
- Our goal is to empower members of the disability community to impact decision-making by amplifying voices and meaningfully designing participation and engagement opportunities.
- Lived experiences are a form of expertise that must be valued in project planning and implementation.
- Stories are a meaningful form of data that can challenge dominant narratives and amplify voices beyond the abilities of quantitative data.
- Proactive planning for accessibility and disability inclusion, including in budgets and timelines, are necessary to ensure inclusive and equitable consultations.