I never realized how privileged I am by not being physically disabled. I am able to walk anywhere, read anything, and see anything I want to. Unfortunately, not everyone is as blessed as I am. Because I am on campus a lot I decided to notice what kind of accessibility there is on campus for a physically disabled person. As I was walking around Newton Oaks and Dunlap this week I started noticing that while there are a few things that help people with physical disabilities, like elevators, there is definitely not accessible enough. A few of the things I noticed in Newton Oaks were that the bottom floor is the only floor with automatic doors, the bottom floor of classrooms are either stadium seating and don't have tables in the front that are wheelchair accessible or the classrooms are filled with desks that some people might not be able to get into, and the doors to the bathroom are extremely heavy and they push while going in, but you have to pull to get out and for a person in a wheelchair, the restrooms are not easily accessible at all. I also noticed that there are not many ramps for wheelchairs and if there is one, it is usually laid out in a maze-like fashion which make it difficult and time consuming for people to use.
One particular building on campus that is not really accessible to any individuals with disabilities is Memorial Hall. They do not have braille on any signs in the building, almost their entire building is not wheelchair accessible, and they do not have a lobby area with someone that can direct people where to go. A good example of someone not being able to participate in an activity is being able to cross the stage used for graduation in Memorial Hall. The stage is not wheelchair accessible, therefore, if a person is not physically walk across the stage, they will miss out on that unique opportunity of receiving their diploma like everyone else.
As for making the more accessible, the college would have to invest in building and installing all of the necessary things to make this college completely accessible, like elevators, ramps, and signs with braille. Because Newton Oaks is one of the newest building on campus it is more accessible to individuals with disabilities, but the other buildings on campus need to get it together!
This post is so spot on when it comes to addressing how overlooked people with disabilities are in our society especially. A lot of the problems you saw with the buildings around campus are the same things I saw on my walks to and from class. I was even more enlightened by our in class assignment the day we talked about this subject. Out of all the things we've talked about in class and in your post it shows that there needs to be some serious accountability for all of us who neglect or ignore disabled people. Whether it's subconscious and especially if it's conscious. What a great post.
ReplyDelete