Speech Arts is one of the five buildings that received an
automatic door. However, not every entrance of the building
is accessible to people with certain disabilities.
Esteban Cortez / The Collegian

While most students can simply breeze through a doorway to get to class, some students don’t have that luxury. For liberal studies student Jose Ruiz, sometimes getting the door open to get to class is the biggest challenge.

“I wait like five-to-ten minutes, tops,” said Ruiz, who uses a wheelchair to get around and often waits for the assistance of other students to open the building doors.

Ruiz said that although most of the buildings are equipped with an automatic door, there are some buildings that lack them. He also said he’s experienced other problems with the doors, regardless if they are automatic or not.

“There’s [are] some doors that have the mechanical button that opens them, but sometimes they don’t work,” Ruiz said.

Janice Brown director of Services for Students with Disabilities said that last year five automatic doors were added to the campus despite budget cuts.

“Last year was a big year for us with five new doors,” Brown said. “That was a big push.”

Engineering, Speech Arts and the Music building are three of the five that received renovations.

However, Brown added that state law doesn’t require automatic doors.

“It actually requires a door that is accessible and that is very lightweight ”” so you make adaptations to the door to make it easy,” Brown said.

Ruiz said what one person may define a door as light, could be debatable.

“Light for who,” Ruiz said. “ There’s people in my disability or situation where the arm strength varies depending on their injury level. So I don’t know where or how they measure the lightness from.”

Brown agrees with Ruiz and said that if a student was experiencing a problem, the first step would be to notify the Services for Students with Disabilities.

“The key thing is really students, visitors, faculty, staff ”” anybody out there that’s experiencing an accessibility issue on campus ”” let us know,” Brown said.

Ruiz said he gets emails from the office that address conflicts that come up on campus. However he finds it difficult to find the time to address any himself.

Brown said that if the office doesn’t know, they couldn’t fix the problem.

“Obviously putting in a door isn’t going to happen overnight,” Brown said. “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t make an accommodation.”

Brown has made agreements with staff in nearby buildings to be available to open doors if a student needs it.

Ruiz finds asking other students for help is the easiest and most efficient way to get around.

“There’s always classes getting out or getting in. So I just sort of ask someone, or someone volunteers,” Ruiz said.