2008 Woodie Awards
Campus accessibility still needs work
Chloe Thompson and Lindsay Lorenz
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News
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While administrators at URI said substantial progress has been made in creating and maintaining handicapped accessibility on campus, they agree work remains.
"It is our obligation, and our duty, to provide access to all students and faculty with disabilities," Vice President for Administration Robert Weygand said Tuesday, adding later, "We still have mountains to climb."
The university has made renovations with respect to access in several locations on campus. New elevators, costing about $300,000 apiece, were installed in Green Hall, Ballentine Hall, Rodman Hall and Peck, Merrow and Weldin residence halls. Lippitt, currently undergoing renovations, will soon include a new elevator and entrance.
According to a chart of Proposed Accessibility Projects from 2005, the university has spent about $2.8 million on accessibility points such as wheelchair ramps, elevators and accessible entrances.
However, about $5.1 million worth of work remained in 2005 and none of it has been completed. Director of Capital Projects Paul DePace said because of inflation those projects would actually cost about $6.2 million to complete today.
Included on the list are adding and fixing walkways and curbcuts, upgrading elevators in 19 buildings, making all door openers powered and making interior building layouts handicap accessible.
Director of Facilities Services Jerry Sidio and DePace said this week the two main problems with accessibility are the steep topography of the campus and the possibility of inclement weather.
DePace, who relies on a wheelchair for mobility, said he knows firsthand the challenges that disabled people may face.
"It is physically possible to push a wheelchair from the Sherman Building [DePace's office building at bottom of campus] to the Fine Arts Center, but it's an athletic event," he said.
Sidio agreed with DePace, and said the hills on campus create a problem for those with disabilities, particularly those climbing the Elephant Walk.
"This is not, in any matter, accessible to a student in a wheelchair," Sidio said. "That is without question something that is a challenge to access."
The Americans with Disabilities Act states that for every foot of incline, there must be 12 level feet, though Sidio said the grade of the hill makes it impossible for the university to comply with the act. However, Sidio said Facility Services is optimistic.
"We haven't come up with a good design yet, but we're continuing to look," he said.
Though the Elephant Walk may never be up to code, certain elevators are easing the treacherous slopes, DePace said.
The elevator in Hope Commons reaches the second floor, and allows access a student to enter from Butterfield Road and ride the elevator up part of the hill. DePace said the elevator helps break up the hill and provides easy travel to nearby residence halls. He added that similar measures were taken in Butterfield Hall, where an elevator carries riders from the Butterfield Road level to the first floor of the residence hall.
However, in other areas of campus, there is a lack of accessibility. Bliss Hall, Davis Hall, Washburn Hall and the Honors Program in Roger Williams are all inaccessible to those in wheelchairs.
In many cases, a focus on maintaining the historical nature of buildings and a dearth of funds often conflict with efforts to make them accessible.
"What we lack in funds, we make up in innovation," Weygand said.
DePace cited the new entrance to Lippitt Hall as an example of creative thinking, and said he thinks it's important to try and make accessibility points match the look of buildings, as in the case of Lippitt.
"You won't see it as the accessible entrance, you'll see it as just the entrance," he said.
When buildings like Lippitt are renovated, plans are made to update the facilities and meet ADA requirements.
Mobility challenges are compounded by snow, sleet and rain that flood campus and dump inches of snow, blocking walkways and curbcuts.
In cases of inclement weather, the university's Disability Services works with Facility Services to provide safe routes for those with physical disabilities.
Sidio said during a snowstorm Facility Services' first priority is to clear the main roads and parking lots, and next they work on sidewalks and building walkways, many of which need to be shoveled by hand. Disability Services has a list of the class schedules of students with disabilities, which are forwarded to Facility Services so they are aware where particular attention is required. Special care is taken to ensure paths are wide enough for wheelchairs, and that there will be a way to access the buildings.
"Accessible entry to a walkway is a priority during snowstorms," Sidio said.
When rain is the issue, puddles often form in the depression near the base, which floods the ramp. Sidio said maintenance staff must sometimes pump out the excess water to make them functional.
For DePace, he said ensuring safe travel during inclement weather should not only be a priority for Facility Services, but also for its beneficiaries.
He said those with disabilities should be aware of their surroundings and should alert Facility Services if they know they will need extra help in a particular area.
"This is something that requires constant vigilance," DePace said.
Though the university is making strides toward perfecting the physical accessibility points, some staff at URI recalled specific incidents where disability hindered day-to-day tasks.
Lynne Derbyshire, chairwoman of the communication studies department, recalled a time when a student in a wheelchair wondered aloud how he was supposed to get up Taft Hall's stairway to his class.
"The professor had to move his class to the Quadrangle [for the student]," Derbyshire said.
Derbyshire, who was part of the first group of Disability Resource Mentors at URI, said she's also seen instances where staff had to carry students down stairs because of power outages or lack of elevators. The group works with DDS to help answer questions or meet the needs of disabled students within each mentor's department.
"Everyone on this campus should have to get around in a wheelchair or crutches, then maybe their minds would change," she said.
DePace, who was injured during his senior year at URI, said he has seen a notable difference in the attitudes at the university.
"I think it's more common now to see someone with a disability on campus than 20 years ago, and I like that," he said.
African and African American Studies Chairwoman Cynthia Hamilton, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1993 and then injured her legs in a car accident in 1995, said she is no stranger to the challenges the campus presents.
Hamilton, who uses a wheelchair, explained getting around campus requires constant planning.
"What you have to do is reorganize your day, you have to readjust your life, think what's close? What's not close?" she said.
Hamilton noted getting to her office as a particular challenge. Located on the third floor of Roosevelt Hall, she relies on the narrow elevator, but said it is often out of service.
Furthermore, when it rains, the elevator floods. Hamilton is left with no access to her office and must go directly to the class she is teaching.
She said she would like her office relocated, but that would require both her department and the women's studies department to move as well.
"We are always between a rock and a hard place," she said. "The students are probably the best thing I could get," she said, adding that they are both helpful and receptive to her situation.
Hamilton said in her 16 years at the university the campus has become more accessible.
"I think that there's been an effort, but it's still very difficult," she said.