Applicants with disabilities may have a fairer shot at admission to the University of Waterloo after the school failed to derail a human rights ruling against it.

Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal has directed the university to look beyond grades and consider skills learned outside the classroom in assessing applicants who request an accommodation to which they are entitled.

“This is new ground,” said André Jardin, associate registrar in charge of undergraduate admissions.

The change is coming after the school unfairly refused admission to a Kitchener man who lives with a trauma-injured brain.

Roch Longueépée challenged the university after it rejected his application to enrol in a bachelor’s program in 2013.

He defeated the university in Ontario Divisional Court, where three judges rec

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