As enrollment figures continue to increase at Prairie View A&M University, so does the need for buildings on campus to become more accessible for students who are disabled.
Dr. John Bowers, an assistant professor in the College of Education, said, “In my mind, we aren’t an equal opportunity institution for students who are wheelchair bound. I feel that if we had a reputation of being a handicap friendly campus, we would attract more students.”
Bowers, who began teaching at PVAMU in fall 2009, said his opinion was based on his observation of the buildings around campus. In an experiment he conducted as a doctoral student at Indiana University, Bowers found that most buildings on that campus were not fully accessible to disabled people. He noted that most buildings on Prairie View’s campus are similar to those at Indiana University.
Passed in 1990, the American Disabilities Act (ADA), was assembled to mandate every public facility to consider the disabled, by providing them with the proper services and making the proper adjustments to accommodate their basic needs. Overseeing and enforcing all aspects of this law is the United States Department of Justice.
Dr. Kay Norman, administrator for Diagnostic Testing and Disability Services at PVAMU, said, “The priority of an educational institution is student learning. When we consider making reasonable accommodations, we first look at funding and what we can reasonably afford. We try to provide every service and support service for student learning.”
Norman said the word “accessible,” is one that is defined in a number of ways, or in this case has many components to its meaning. When determining whether or not a public facility is fully accessible, several factors must be taken into consideration.
The first priority of accessibility deals with access to route and entrance. This deals with parking, automatic sliding doors, wheelchair ramps, etc. According to the ADA, for every 25 regular parking spaces, there must be at least one parking space designated for the disabled. According to Norman, most parking lots at PV hold about 120 spaces, four or five of which are handicapped parking spaces.
The second priority of accessibility deals with access to restrooms. When attempting to make a restroom fully accessible, there are several items that should be present, including accessible stalls, accessible soap dispensers, and even accessible mirrors. However, before any of these can be added, the entrance and location of the bathroom must be easily accessible to someone who is in a wheelchair, or on crutches. Norman noted, that each of the 42 buildings on campus has at least one bathroom that is accessible to the 10 percent of students who have identified themselves as disabled through her office.
Finally access to programs and services deals with disabled persons having access to elevators, wheelchair ramps as opposed to stairs, and special seating at events.
Both Norman and Bowers agree that PVAMU’s buildings could use upgrades in accessibility. Norman and her colleagues have been in the process on making a proposal to make buildings on campus more accessible to the disabled. Juvenile Justice building and the New Science building are closest to being fully accessible.