Parts of campus still inaccessible for the disabled

By Maurice Ndole

Despite efforts by the university and Services for Students with Disabilities, people with disabilities still say they are having difficulties gaining access to some buildings on campus.

“ The bathrooms are in poor conditions,” said Yoyner Ardila. “They have small doors and they don’t have disabled stalls,”

Ardila is a graduate student confined to a wheelchair.

Carole Snee, director of Services for Students with Disabilities, said not all bathrooms around the university were accessible to people with disabilities and there are plans to make them accessible.

“ There is an area in plant operations that has to develop a plan each year whereby they progressively refurbish the bathrooms to make sure they are accessible,” Snee said.

It’s very expensive to refurbish the bathrooms, Snee said, and the renovations are generally phased in over a period of time.

Gary Wilson, director of facility planning, whose department is charged with the responsibility of designing new buildings and renovating old buildings, said all new buildings had bathrooms accessible to people with disabilities.

“ In the older buildings, we have at least one bathroom which is disabled accessible,” Wilson said.

But Ardila, who has attended Fresno State for five years, said little has changed since he first arrived at the university.

“ The new buildings are very accessible, but the old buildings are very difficult to get in,” Ardila said. “The classrooms don’t have adequate equipment or desks for someone on a wheelchair.”

Ardila said he has had to turn around desks in his classes in order to take notes.

Elizabeth Thorpe, a student who developed respiratory problems after asbestos contamination, said all buildings need elevators.

Thorpe said there needs to be more elevator access.

“ To get to the upper floor in the psychology building you have to go down the elevator in the food science building and then come back, which makes extra walking,” she said. “I don’t handle stairs well, so I have to do the extra walking to get to the elevator [and] to get back to where I was going.”

Snee said that as a result of the American Disability Act, all state buildings are required to be accessible for people with disabilities and all buildings at Fresno State have a way for people with disabilities to gain access.

“ When students tell us that something is difficult, whether it is the elevator or automatic doors, we get in touch with plant operations on campus to check it out,” Snee said.

She said it was important for people with disabilities to contact her department whenever they were facing difficulties around campus.

Snee said the center provides students with services that make special accommodations for them around the university.

“ The students come to us and work with our disability management specialist to see what is needed for the classroom accommodations,” Snee said.

Ardila said Services for Students with Disabilities has provided him with all the necessary services he has needed.

“ They have a good facility there that is equipped with everything I need,” Ardila said. “They even have programs where they inform you of jobs and the staff is very helpful.”

Services for Students with Disabilities provides note-taking services, interpreting services, testing accommodations and technological services such as adaptive computers for students.

Services for Students with Disabilities can be contacted at 278-2811 or Web site www.studentaffairs.csufresno.edu/ssd