Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 25, 1995 TAG: 9504250121
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STACY JONES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Outside.
Because she is disabled - she gets around campus in a wheelchair - Ferguson was unable to enter the building. The double-doors were too narrow for her chair. Instead, counselors must come outside to talk to Ferguson, arrange another meeting place or physically carry her inside the building.
Once inside, she would be stuck again. Trout Hall has no elevators, just stairs.
``I'm not sure, structurally, we are ideal,'' said Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Ed Whitson.
Trout Hall is just one of a handful of buildings on the Roanoke College campus that are totally inaccessible. Despite the Rehabilitation Act of 1974 and the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the majority of university campuses in the area have yet to become completely accessible, much less user friendly.
``I don't know how many bruises I have from doors slamming on me,'' Ferguson said. ``Roanoke College never had a lot of disabled students, so they never had to make it really accessible.''
``Most of the bathrooms are inaccessible,'' she continued. ``Sometimes that means leaving the building you're in, going to an accessible bathroom and then coming back to the building you started from.''
But, she said, ``they're working on some things.''
The college has recently installed a ramp at the financial aid office (though there is still no accessibility after the first floor because the building has no elevator) and added an extra railing to the ramp from the administration building to the Life Science Building.
Plans to make Alumni Gym and Bast Athletic Center accessible and to add a ramp to the front entrance of Sutton Hall, the student center, have been approved but not yet completed.
The improvement at the Life Science building was made in February after Ferguson had an accident and suffered injuries. She is still upset about the accident, which took place the night of a big ice storm, because it is one that could have been avoided.
``I figured that since the sidewalk and steps had been scraped, that the ramp had been cleaned as well,'' Ferguson said.
After losing control on the unlighted ramp, she ``slammed into the railing'' damaging her hand and leg. ``That next day was the only day I ever missed school,'' Ferguson said.
``There have been difficulties,'' Whitson admitted . His hope for the school is ``to be more proactive and less reactive.''
``For us that are not mobility impaired, it's hard to know what's needed,'' said Tom Turner, director of campus safety. ``We welcome them [disabled students] to come and give input.''
At Virginia Tech, as at Roanoke College, old buildings, hilly terrain and oversights combine to make accessibility an issue as well.
``Virginia Tech was historically a military campus, built for able-bodied military young men'' said Virginia Reilly, assistant dean of students for disabled student services. ``So, not every single building is accessible.''
``But fewer and fewer times do we have to move classes,'' because a disabled student enrolled for the course can't get inside, she said.
According to Reilly, approximately 300 of the 24,000 students registered at Tech are classified as disabled, but this includes students with learning, hearing and visual impairments. By law, universities cannot inquire about disabilities. That makes it difficult to meet the students' needs.
``If they don't let us know they're here, we can't help,'' said Reilly. ``We rely on our students to be very verbal.''
Feedback seems to be the key as administrations strive to attain accessibility.
``A ramp may meet code,'' explained Turner. However, actual usage may prove that ``it needs a little more work.
``Rather than do something and have it wrong, we [Roanoke College] would rather get input and do it right the first time,'' he said. ``You can't just put a ramp up to a building and say it's accessible.''
While institutes of higher learning focus on making sure disabled students can get inside their classrooms, other places, such as computer labs, tutoring and career centers, advising services, student lounges and athletic facilities seem to be taking a back seat.
This can mean that disabled students exist on the fringe of campus society. They technically receive all the services of their able-bodied counterparts, but in isolation. Sometimes they don't receive the services at all.
``I would like to lift weights and strengthen my upper body, but I can't get into the weight room,'' said Ferguson. ``Sometimes it's just frustrating, but I can't get down there.''
``It's a concern we have to make that [Alumni Gym] accessible,'' said Turner.
Accessibility to the flavor of college life is also sacrificed when a school's focus is toward services rather than complete access.
``We're working on making everything that's available to every student available to a disabled student,'' said Reilly, although Tech's television lounges and game rooms in some dormitories have yet to be renovated, as do some campus laundry facilities.
According to Reilly, who rated her school's accessibility at around 80 percent, Tech's goal is to make the ``educational experience of all disabled students more like what their peers would get.''
``We work with them so that their social needs are meet,'' she said.
At Hollins College, the luck of design has made accessibility somewhat easier to deal with, said Linda Steele, director of college relations.
A colonnade on the college's front quadrangle joins all the building's entry-level floors. This allows access to such things as career development and student residences. Once again, because of the age of the buildings, stairs - not elevators - are the link to the upper floors.
While Steele estimated that 90 percent of the campus had first-floor access, she conceded that stairs and the lack of front access to many buildings keeps portions of the campus from becoming fully accessible.
Accessibility studies are underway or completed at all of the colleges contacted for this article. The reports survey each building on campus and summarize their accessibility problems. In addition, many of the schools have ``conceptual renovations'' planned for a number of buildings. The impediment preventing actual construction is, not surprisingly, money.
``Right now, the difficulties are funding and the complexity of the jobs,'' said Turner. ``In the meantime, we make temporary adjustments.''
``Time frames for improvements depend on what the remodeling effort is,'' concurred Reilly. ``There are places we cannot fix.''
Virgil Cook, an associate English professor at Tech who is blind, sympathizes with both wheelchair-bound students and the university.
``Like all state agencies, we're facing severe budget cuts,'' he said. ``It's harder to do those retrofits that absolutely must be done.''
Independence is at the core of accessibility, according to Ferguson. Disabled students are rarely able to go into campus buildings and complete their tasks alone, unaided, which is what true accessibility means to them.
``We have dreams and hopes and want to be a part of society,'' she said. ``I feel like we're being limited.''
With that thought, Ferguson rolled to the back entrance of Sutton Hall, charged the metal door, her black hi-tops extended to keep it ajar, and exited onto a patchwork parking lot. She paused, put on her black racing gloves, and prepared for the steep climb that takes her to her civilization class across the street.
``This is really painful,'' Ferguson said. ``But it's the only way.''
by CNB