USU offers facilities above code for disabled students
Plans are underway to improve the services and accessibility of Utah State University to students with disabilities through a new training program for faculty and an updated campus survey of buildings.
“Overall, this place is pretty good,” said Annie Robison, an undeclared sophomore who uses a wheelchair.
With constantly changing legislation since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed about 10 years ago, USU has tried to stay abreast of legal requirements while still meeting the needs of students in providing equal education opportunities to all as part of its institutional responsibility.
“USU is quite accessible, but it’s not perfect by any means,” said Diane Craig Hardman, the director of the Disability Resource Center. “We do quite well. We have a good reputation in providing services and accommodations.”
A new training program for faculty is being created, Hardman said. They hope it will become mandatory. Two workshops will begin next week and they plan to have everything ready by February.
With renovations and new building projects, accessibility continues to get better, Hardman said. The Old Main renovation, getting rid of the Merrill Library and plans for the Engineering Laboratory Building have and could solve a lot of problems, she said.
The Geology Building is particularly bad, Robison said. The only elevators in the building are for freight, not wheel chairs.
Also, there need to be automatic doors on the Ellen Eccles Auditorium, Robison said. With the public attending various events there, “you’d think there would be,” she said.
The university has always attempted to meet the code requirements for accessibility, but Hardman said they often go beyond code in their efforts.
“It’s hard to get really good accessibility just with code,” Hardman said. “We’ve tried to set a standard higher than code.”
Hardman said one area still lacking is with automatic doors. They would like to have automatic doors on everything, but code doesn’t require that at all.
The little things make a big difference, Robison said.
“But as long as the big things work, you can get around the little things,” she said.
The law doesn’t require 100 percent architectural accessibility, Hardman said. Programs must be accessible, but all buildings are not.
“When you’re in a wheelchair, you get used to using your head and working around things,” Robison said.
Hardman said in 1992 they conducted an accessibility survey of the entire campus to see where improvements could be made.
“We didn’t have enough in our budget to do everything, but we made some major renovations,” Hardman said.
This survey has not been updated since then, and Hardman said they need to redo it building by building. Although this original survey addressed many of the major problems and barriers, there are still less significant ones which still need to be looked at, she said.
An advising committee to re-look at access and make a priority list for barriers will be formed in January, Hardman said.
The majority of disabled students at USU do not have architectural concerns, they have learning disabilities, Hardman said.
Accommodations are also made for these students.
Some of the accommodations that can be requested with approval from the DRC are extended time for testing, interpreters for the deaf, note-taking assistance, accessible seating, copies of overhead materials, incomplete grades or withdrawals for illness and reduced class load requirements.
The DRC tries to provide as many of these services through the help of volunteers as possible without losing any quality, Hardman said.
“The staff takes great strides to serve students to the best of their ability,” Chad Bergeson, DRC deaf interpreter, said.
For example, note taking volunteers receive a $30 gift certificate to the USU Bookstore, Hardman said.
Before approval is granted to students for these accommodations, Hardman said they must pass a stringent list of guidelines to prove they have a disability.
“A person can’t just walk in and demand accommodations, that’s not enough. We require current and strong documentation. We’re very careful in giving services and accommodations to students,” Hardman said.
Many of the legal changes being made concern the definition of a disability, she said.
“We’re watching the courts very closely,” Hardman said.