For most of the time, I don’t have to have a plan of action to get where I need to go. I just walk the way I’m supposed to and I know that I can get there by stairs, steep hills, or whatever. A lot of people don’t have this same luxury.
Recently one of my good friends has broken her foot, and it has been a very eye-opening experience. She lives in the door on campus that is located on the top of a hill. For most of us, it would be a hassle, but not a problem. For her, it was a problem because she either had to drive to her classes or try to handle the hill on crutches. Even worse, because her injury was temporary, parking and disabilities services on campus would not issue her a handicap parking pass. This makes getting to class and parking extremely difficult. We have many buildings on our campus that have elevators, but in incredibly inconvenient areas. And not only that, but they only work half of the time. She will have a class in one end of a building, but have to use the elevator on the opposite side just to get up one floor. Or, using the parking deck, she has to walk all the way around the building to get to a ramp instead of climbing a flight of stairs. She has to constantly build in more time in her schedule and a game plan for her to get somewhere that usually is so easy to get to. She also cannot participate in things like our intramural games or volunteer work because she can’t do things like walking a puppy or carrying heavy cans.
Many places around our campus could easily be fixed to have better access for those with disabilities. An elevator added at the more commonly used end of a building, or build a ramp along with stairs somewhere for more convenience. Our world is made for “normal” people, but wouldn’t it be so easy to help everyone out?
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