Wheelchair access has a handicap
Have you ever tried to get around Trustees with crutches or a wheelchair? Let me tell you—it’s not easy.
As the classes of Spring 2010 come to a close, disabled students are still waiting to see changes made to the Trustees Building. Trustees is one of the oldest academic buildings at Methodist University. It was built long before there were laws requiring wheelchair access.
“I love this school and I would not trade going to this school for anything, but the disability access stinks,” said Pamela Randon, sophomore social work major who uses a power chair.
Trustees is a two story building with steps, no elevator, no automatically-opening doors, and heavy metal fire doors on the inside between the halls.
At the beginning of the current school year, smallTALK reported that Trustees would be getting automatic opening doors on both the upstairs and downstairs doors, along with magnetically-open fire doors inside.
“I know last semester I was stuck outside during one of Dr. Hendrick’s classes because I could not open the door to get in,” said Randon.
This project had the possibility of being done over the Christmas break, but attention on campus buildings shifted from changes in Trustees to Greek Life Housing.
Now, the changes are slated for June. An elevator has also been proposed, to be installed by June 30, if the costs are not too extravagant. However, the elevator project is still in the bidding process. The installation of an elevator is being estimated at $300,000 which will come from the cash reserve. The cash reserve is money from contributors, interest on endowment, and money from the surplus of the operating budget.
As a visually impaired student, I was unaware of these difficulties until 2007, my second year at Methodist. In the fall semester, I took two night classes. Every night, I had a Campus Security Escort that would carry my belongings and help me walk between my classes and Weaver Hall.
The first thing I noticed was that the stairwells in Trustees were very dimly lit in the evening when it was dark outside. I also noticed that trying to physically walk across campus, in the dark, with an escort carrying everything I had, while I was holding onto his arm was next to impossible.
In January 2008, I began doing a research article that took me close to three months. I interviewed many disabled students, in wheel or powerchairs, who expressed their difficulties in traveling around Trustees and throughout campus with the lack of disability access. The article pointed out the difficulties of being incapable of using the stairs inside Trustees and raised awareness of the need for changes throughout Methodist’s campus.
That article sparked a flame in some people at Methodist. On Apr. 1, 2009, the Chi Delta Chi Veteran’s Honor Society held Handicap Awareness Day. The society was able to raise approximately $400 in donations to go towards disability access improvements. A year later, disabled students are still waiting to see changes to Trustees.
Methodist’s campus has seen many improvements since that article was released. There has been bright yellow paint added to the ends of many grey, concrete steps throughout campus, a ramp has been added to the Public Safety Office (so disabled students finally have access to it), and a sidewalk has been added to the left side of Pearce Hall so that physically disabled students don’t have to travel all the way around the building in order to get to the Center for Personal Development. With all the positive changes—the biggest and most expensive changes are still yet to be seen.
“I’d like to see all of the classrooms modernized, new floors—tile not carpet, Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning Units (HVAC) for each classroom, all bathrooms upgraded, technological improvements for the rooms, and I’d like to see the classrooms tiered,” said Gene Clayton, Vice President for Business Affairs.
Whether or not Trustees will be completely accessible, both inside and out, to the physically disabled, by Fall 2010, is uncertain, but there will be a need for disability access; and that is a certainty.
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