UR Inaccessible: Criticism & Awareness

It has been a year since my last encounter with writing about inaccessibility on our campus. I have returned with accounts of experiences both from myself and others in our campus community. This article will focus on these personal experiences and follow up on what the school has done within the past year including hiring a new director of Disability Services. As I mentioned in my disclaimer last year, I do not have a physical disability. However, since the publication of my article last year, I have discovered that I have a mental disability that most people would be unaware of just by looking at me.

Although there is a difference in the stigmatization of physical and mental disabilities because of this unawareness factor, this discovery has helped me to understand just how difficult it is to be faced with discrimination and to advocate for yourself—especially on a college campus.

On their website, Disability Services states that, “The mission of Disability Services is to ensure that those within our campus community who have disabilities are provided opportunity for full participation and equal access to campus resources.” This mission reflects a commitment consistent and in compliance with federal standards and state regulations. It also underscores the importance of recognizing and promoting the student’s ability and independence.” The team is made up of two full-time employees: Dr. Cort Schneider, the director of Disability Services, and Julia Kelly, the accessibility specialist. One of the changes within the past year was hiring Dr. Schneider in May of 2022. This was a huge change for the department and the university because it gave people with disabilities a representative who understands the difficulties of the campus and how to advocate for students.

I reached out to some of my peers to see what their experience was with Disability Services as someone with a disability and what their expectations were for improvements going forward. One student said, “As a student with dyslexia, disability services reached out to me from the beginning of my time at UR to make sure that my accommodations are heard and protected in the classroom.

I am grateful for their presence on campus and know that I can come to their office if I have any questions or concerns about my rights as a neurodivergent student.”

Another student said, “I’ve had a good experience with them however it was mostly through the DAN process, so for my accommodations I worked with Julia Kelly and she was very helpful and always sends reminder emails and various other things to help.” Both of these experiences were from students who have interacted with Disability Services through class accommodations and the testing center. On the Disability Services Student Portal, booking the testing center and requesting alternative format textbooks are two options that the services can provide. For other physical disabilities, the layout and the innate inaccessibility of the campus makes it hard for Disabilities Services to provide the accommodations that they are able to for mental disabilities. However, an inaccessible campus layout is not an excuse for the University of Richmond. The university and Disability Services should ensure that the campus is accessible for every student, faculty member, and staff member. After asking what could be changed or improved, one student replied, “With the Disability Accommodation Notice (DAN) stuff, I think it’s fine but overall I think they could improve how much they actually do and how much aid they actually provide. I feel like they could do more to work with other departments on campus.”

In order to become a place where all students with disabilities are able to feel supported, Disability Services and the University of Richmond should provide access for students to have their input taken into consideration through public forums and interviews with students to determine what would be most beneficial to them.

1. I am a short girl. At 4’10, I am shorter than most of the people on campus and definitely shorter than the lowest setting for most crutches. Because of this, I was forced to use crutches that were four inches too tall for me because of a lack of pediatric or shorter crutches. By failing to provide pediatric crutches, the University’s care excludes anyone shorter than 5’2. This inaccessibility creates an environment where some students who are on this campus without a disability will have trouble finding solutions that are beneficial to them.

2. The wheelchair accessible buttons are flakey most of the time and occasionally don’t work. You have to press them for 5 seconds and they are usually on the opposite side of the door than where you would enter from. Also, the heavy-to-open doors to classrooms do not have this accessibility, so when you go to class, there is no way to open the door.

For example, when I was on crutches I got in touch with parking services because it would be easier for me to drive instead of walking up and down all of the hills on crutches that were too big for me. After a discussion with parking services, I got a Y parking pass. This is a pass that parking services provides for students who need temporary accommodation and allows them to park in lots for residents and commuters. However, it quickly became evident that I couldn’t park anywhere near the buildings I needed to enter. The places I could park were up hills—which is not fun on crutches. The only parking spots near the dining hall are faculty staff spots and the closest space I could have gone would have been up the exact hill I was trying not to go up. I got in touch with Disability Services to see if I could park outside of my dorm instead of walking up and down a grassy hill or getting fined, but their response was that I was going to be ok in a few days and they wouldn’t help me.

3. Parking spots on this campus are another form of inaccessibility.

While this is not an exhaustive list of all of the accessibility services that the University of Richmond can make available, my previous article touches on more of what the university can implement for physical disabilities. To reiterate, more elevators in visible places, gradual sloped hills and wheelchair accessible paths, automatic doors, and braille on all signs would create a better environment for people with physical disabilities.

When we create accessible environments, we make it easier for people with and without disabilities to go about their daily lives. In the 1940s, curb ramps were introduced to the United States to provide comfort to veterans with disabilities who were returning from war. Now, curb ramps are a design that we all take for granted, but it makes life easier for every person walking on a sidewalk.

So, what is the point of this criticism? My answer is: awareness. What can be done if nobody is acknowledging these problems? When more people are aware of an issue and choose to act, the mental workload is shared and authority figures are more likely to acknowledge the problem. There are many issues on this campus that make us students wary. That starts with allocating more resources and funds to Disability Services and expanding the number of available staff positions in the department. Although Disability Services is working to help students, providing alternative experiences and ideas will promote inclusivity for the broader community. It is up to the university and the staff to make this campus a safer and more accessible environment for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors at the University of Richmond. ***