That tiny curb that you walk up every day, do you ever think about how difficult that is for a student with a disability?

The accessibility for students with disabilities on campus is an issue that needs to be addressed and soon.

Disabilities is not just a hearing aid or wheelchair.

It is the person on crutches for a month or the left handed student that sits next to you in class. Whether it is a permanent disability or not, it is very difficult to move around campus.

The Fain Fine Arts building for example, mass communication professor Sandra Grant said, “they built the building more for style than accessibility.”

Fain is difficult to move around in and has some rooms that cannot be accessed by wheelchairs.

Grant, who has difficulties moving around, can see how hard it is for these students to go through campus.

And, did you know that there are two floors in Fain?

Even though the second floor of Fain only has one office, which can only be accessed by a set of stairs. It can be difficult to move between offices and classrooms.

According to the American Disabilities Act, a university is supposed to provide “reasonable accommodations” for students with disabilities.  But what might be reasonable to the university could be burdensome to the students.

The Hardin administration building was constructed in 1937 and has one elevator.  The elevator is located on one side of the building, so what about the offices on the other side?

What about the heavy doors that don’t have automated buttons in Fain?  And the bathrooms that don’t have handicap stalls, or the classroom with no left-handed desks?

This is not reasonable and places unneeded stress on students with disabilities and can often embarrass them as well.  Imagine having to squeeze into a tiny classroom in Fain while the class stares at you and having no desk that is comfortable for you to write on.

In section 504 of the Rehabilitation act is says that “buildings constructed or altered before June 3,1977 need not be made accessible if the college or school can ensure that its students with disabilities enjoy the full range of its programs.”  Key word “enjoy,” something that students with disabilities are not getting.

Now take a step back and just look at our campus, compared to Tarleton State University many say Tarleton is ahead in disability access.

According to Trina Geye, the Director of Student Disability Services at Tarleton, she is “not aware of issues on campus where their buildings are in violation of code.”

Currently Fain Fine Arts is the only building on the MSU campus not up to current code.

Since the building was constructed under different guidelines, in 1977 the building is not technically out of code.

Technically that doesn’t make it any less difficult for students with disabilities.

When you are walking around campus just look around and imagine how hard it is for students with disabilities.  Remember, that tiny curb for you, can be Mount Everest for them.