This article is in continuation of the Student Movement’s process of bringing Andrews University’s accessibility accommodations for individuals who have limited mobility to light. I asked several students on campus to share their accessibility experiences.
“I recently sprained my ankle, and I have been on crutches for about five days now. It was pretty hard for me to get to class with crutches. I even asked my teachers to allow me to join through Zoom or be excused from class entirely, but that was due to the fact that I was in a lot of pain. After the pain subsided, I managed to get to class, albeit it was tough. The school did not provide any accommodations for me but I think this is mostly due to the fact that I didn’t ask. I know the school gives out golf carts for temporarily disabled people but I didn’t sign up for one so in a way, it’s kind of my fault. I also found it really annoying because I couldn’t move. That is all I really felt.”
Justin Choi (sophomore, psychology pre-med)
“Okay so on Labor Day my freshman year, I dislocated my knee playing basketball and couldn’t put weight on it for about two months during which I was on crutches. It was a little hard to get from building to building, especially far ones like the sci-complex, but then I got a scooter, so that made it a lot easier. The school provided the scooter and let me keep it as long as I needed. They also offered to move me down to the first floor so I wouldn’t have to hop up and down the stairs. I think something that is lacking would be elevators in the dorm as everywhere else wasn’t too hard to access, but I know elevators are expensive. The library was also particularly hard to access because for the accessible entrance, you have to call for someone to come get you, and in my experience, that took a bit.”
Jeffrey Woods (sophomore, psychology)
“While I do feel that I have learned how to have a better experience here on campus, that’s the problem. I had to learn how to navigate different buildings instead of it being already accessible for me. There are some buildings, such as Buller Hall and the Student Center that are much easier to get into. There are other buildings, such as the Library and the Science Complex in which the accessible entrances are hidden or hard to access, which is what they call ‘back door’ accessibility. The Student Success Center did work with me to help me figure out what accommodations I may need for classes. However, there are many other things I just simply had to learn to deal with. This is anything from buttons on doors not working, places that have no ramps, bumpy sidewalks that make my scooter stall, and lack of buttons on doors (among other things). Yes, currently I have an okay time navigating campus. But that’s because of my three and a half years of having to be on it and learn what to do in each situation.”
Lexie Dunham (junior, psychology)
“I am on the basketball team, which is where I badly sprained my ankle. I was on crutches trying to get my ankle better as soon as possible before my next game freshman year. I was walking all over the place and I was lucky enough to know people who were willing to help me as much as possible and my teachers were very understanding and I was able to miss some classes so I didn’t have to walk right after spraining my ankle to Bell Hall and back. I didn’t want a golf cart or anything since it was good for me to put a little pressure on it from time to time but I knew that I had those resources available to me. I wasn’t on crutches for long, but the school had crutches both in the gym and at Meier Hall for me to use. I was glad to have them as an option, and it wasn’t too bad going up and down stairs. I did have to plan to leave a couple of minutes early to make it to class on time, but besides that, it wasn’t a bad experience. Overall I feel like AU has things in place that can allow the students to have ways to get around when they are in pain, as long as our teachers are as understanding as they were for me, then the experience for students who are hurt can really be helpful and good. Also, in my case, I knew people who could get me food and stuff using my card, which was something that was very helpful in my recovery since I didn’t have to go and get food every time, but I could rely on them to give me a break and get food for me. Also, having ice available to me as a player at the Wellness Center was very good. I am not sure if there is ice available at the dorms, but if that is possible for people who are having pain like that to use, I think my experience could be a lot better since I wouldn’t have to hobble over to the gym to get ice every day and I could get ice and wraps at the dorm. Thanks for listening to my experience, and hope you don’t have a bad experience either and don’t get hurt, period!” Elijah le Roux (junior, speech-language pathology)
Hearing from our students is an important step in understanding the experience of mobility issues on campus. Hopefully readers were able to gain valuable perspective through these interviews and look forward to continuing conversations of diversity and understanding.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.