Are College Campuses Really Accessible?
By Paige Loomis
Fall 2023
The college experience is a staple in the lives of many American students. What isn't discussed are the many factors that go into making college campuses a welcoming place for all. One such factor is accessibility. Accessibility can mean a lot; one of the most common associations that people think of is physical accessibility for students with handicaps or disabilities. With 15% of students in America needing special education and/or related services, accessibility on college campuses is a must. Today, I want you to think: Is your college campus really accessible?
Disability Defined
To answer this question, we must first look at what disability means. According to “Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, As Amended” by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, a person has a disability if they have: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of having such an impairment, or are regarded as having such an impairment. In simpler terms, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention offers a clearer definition, describing it as any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities and interact with the world around them. It comes down to three key elements: impairment, activity limitation, and participation restrictions. If a college campus finds a student to meet these requirements, then they are entitled to reasonable accommodations. Disabilities encompass several types, including but not limited to physical disabilities, mental disabilities, and temporary or short-term impairments.
Physical Disabilities
As its name suggests, physical disabilities affect one person's physical functioning or mobility. According to PDNET, the network for supporting learners with physical disabilities, examples of physical disabilities include but are not limited to, cerebral palsy, Ehlers Danlos syndrome, paraplegia, etc. Due to their physical disabilities, some people might require the assistance of mobility aids like canes, walkers, mobility scooters, or crutches.
Invisible Disabilities
Additionally, there are people with invisible disabilities. Invisible disabilities refer to disabilities that might not be obvious or as noticeable. Specifically, the Invisible Disabilities Association defines an invisible disability as “a physical mental or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside yet can limit or challenge a person's movement senses or activities.” This means that somebody can have both a physical and an invisible disability at the same time. Some subcategories of invisible disabilities include chronic pain or fatigue, mental illness, or intellectual disabilities. Examples of specific invisible disabilities include, but are not limited to, ADHD, dyslexia, autism, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.
Temporary disabilities or short-term disability
The last type of disability I'll be talking about is a temporary or short-term disability. According to the Young, Marr, Mallis, & Associates Law Firm, a temporary disability is defined as a disability that affects one for a short period of time but typically results in eventual recovery. What time it takes to recover can vary from a few days to weeks to months or years. Some examples of temporary disabilities include, but are not limited to bronchitis, broken limbs, illnesses such as cancer, or any other illness or injury that prevents one from doing daily activities.
Disability Law
Looking further into disability, we need to discuss the laws and regulations related to disabilities. Two of the most important statutes that are addressed are the American Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
ADA
The ADA is a public law meant to provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities. This means that legally there are regulations in place that college campuses have to enforce to make their campuses meet these standards. One type of regulation that colleges must meet is related to the physical accessibility of campuses such as for mobility issues or assistance with service animals. Additionally, ADA compliance would cover entry and exit compliance, parking and transit compliance, housing accommodation, and accessible bathrooms.
Section 504
However, before the ADA there was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Specifically, Section 504 of the Rehab Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities within a program that receives federal assistance or aid. This is important because it applies to most college institutions because they are a program that receives federal financial assistance. This act makes it illegal to deny a person with a disability from college because of their disability. Section 504 is still applicable today and is used alongside the ADA to form American disability law. In addition to these acts, there is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 (IDEA). IDEA ensures that students with disabilities can receive special education and services.
What is Accessibility?
Now, what counts as accessibility? Accessibility for people with disabilities is access to physical or academic support on campus. According to the Department of Education, accessibility ensures that people with disabilities can “acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services” as people who do not have disabilities.
Examples of accessibility include physical infrastructure such as ramps or elevators, academic accommodations such as extended time on exams or adaptive technology, or mental health support such as a disability service center or an on-campus social worker. Accessibility extends to not just the buildings within the campus but also the walkways and housing provided by the campus. Lastly, accessibility also means providing a welcoming and inclusive environment on campus. All these things are meant to help a person with a disability while pursuing higher education.
Why Should You Care?
In theory, the ADA sounds like a wonderful tool for disabled people. It ensures that college campuses must meet minimum legal requirements for accessibility and accommodations. However, that is exactly what most college campuses do: they only meet the bare minimum. When it comes to the upkeep of disability equipment, services, and platforms, college campuses fall short. But what makes the upkeep of accessibility resources on college campuses so difficult? One reason comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of disability itself and the disabled community. Non-disabled students often view disability services and accommodations as only helping students with disabilities. However, this is not true. Accessibility accommodations truly help make the whole community better. But how, you might ask?
Believe it or not, there is a crossover between issues that disabled students deal with and issues that non-disabled students deal with. It's just a matter of tolerance and preference that impacts how we can navigate these issues. If you think about a classic feature of accessibility, think about subtitles. Subtitles aren't reserved for just people with disabilities. Non-disabled people benefit from them too. It is all about how accessibility can be used in ways to make the classroom more inclusive for all students regardless of their disability. Part of this relates to universal design principles. According to the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design,, “universal design is the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability.” Universal design is not just beneficial for people with disabilities, it is for the benefit of everyone. Extending the idea of universal design to the idea of a universal education, colleges should aim to make their campuses accessible for all students and universally inclusive. There are many such accommodations that disabled students must request that should be commonplace in a classroom. Noah Cooperider and Samantha Korzen are two Disability Coordinators at North Central College who both stated that the adoption of universal design principles would be their ideal program for NCC. Further, they said, “Although the complete elimination of accommodations may be an ambitious goal, the effort to automatically incorporate accessible features in various aspects of campus life marks a crucial step towards inclusivity.”
Additionally, temporary disabilities play a large part in the importance of universal design: Some people are born with a disability and others become disabled later in life. It can be chronic or acute. This means that somebody can be disabled for an extended period of time, for example, their whole life or maybe just a few years of their life. But this can also mean somebody can be disabled for just a few days or a few months. For example, if the student breaks their leg and is unable to walk, they are then classified as temporarily disabled. Now a non-disabled student will have to navigate the quote-on-quote disabled world and deal with the struggles people with disabilities have to face every day. Sometimes non-disabled students on campus experience a crisis and need accommodations to help them deal with their anxiety, depression, or a related mental health issue. In particular, if the mental health issue is particularly debilitating and limits one or more major facets of somebody's life, it can qualify as a disability. However, it is only when a student either becomes disabled or experiences a temporary disability do they really think about the accessibility of their college campus.
Non-disabled students often view disability services and accommodations as only helping students with disabilities. However, this is not true. Accessibility accommodations truly help make the whole community better.
Issues on Campus
When it comes down to it, college campuses are lacking in three different areas: regulation, education, and perception.
Regulation Concerns
Colleges lack consistency in the way disabilities are treated on campus. The head of many disabled departments in college or not run or have any members of the disabled community. In fact, many do not take into consideration the true disabled perspective and instead think purely of the pragmatic and systematic way that disability accommodations are thought of. When applying to a college a student with a disability has to submit some sort of evidence that they have a disability. However, because the ADA has such a complicated way of defining a disability this means that between different colleges different faculty members in institutions are inconsistent in the way they define a student as disabled. It is possible for a student to apply to multiple colleges and only have some colleges believe that they are disabled and qualify for accommodations even if they are in fact clinically diagnosed with a disability. However, not all students can afford to be clinically diagnosed and get overlooked by the system. By having more staff with disabilities regulate the accommodation process, they can better understand the struggles of their students.
Education Gaps
In truth, one of the serious issues with accessibility on college campuses comes down to the lack of education on the part of faculty members and students. A lot of disability information and education comes from very clinical sources such as DSM-5, laws, and regulations, or it comes from the perspective of non-disabled people. Even worse, even when a student is given accommodations, they often experience pushback from professors who do not understand the accommodations or feel it interferes with their teaching. Students use a lot of their education time informing and teaching professors about the importance of their accommodations which some professors don't even choose to accommodate. There are also so many areas in the accommodations process that leave disabled students confused about what they qualify for. I spoke to a student who went to a private college in Georgia about their experience as a student with a disability. For most of their life, they have been diagnosed with ADHD which has affected their ability to stay on task and focus on school. Being uneducated on their right to accommodations, they never disclosed their disability to the school they were going to. They didn’t know that they could even get support from the college. Without any support, they struggled to stay focused and dropped out of school. Dropping out is a common story for students with disabilities. Many do not know what accommodations they can receive because college doesn't tell them. College campus works on the idea that students with disabilities will ask for support if they need it. Many students with disabilities lack the courage to advocate for their own needs and reach out for help. If colleges knew this, they would provide more proactive measures to help reach out to students with disabilities.
Perceptions of Accommodations
Likewise, there needs to be more understanding language and open language used when talking about accommodations and accessibility on campus. Oftentimes disability is seen as a bad word. When looking at a college campus website there should be a section dedicated to accessibility and accommodations given to students on the campus. it should be very clearly stated what incoming or current students are entitled to and how they should receive those accommodations. It should not be hidden in only access to email so should be dedicated pages to how a college campus defines disability, what kind of accommodations are available, and how this campus is dedicated to improving disability awareness and education.
Oftentimes non-disabled people will listen to other non-disabled people's perspectives about disabled issues. This means disabled topics are commonly spoken about in a disabled vacuum. College campuses need to listen more to disabled voices and the disabled community as a whole. People with disabilities should have more agency when it comes to how they are treated on a campus. they should be more involved in the campus community and culture. some ways campuses are attempting to increase the voices of students by having disabled dedicated clubs or events. This can be a way for disabled students and non-disabled students to intermingle and learn about each other. One such way they can do this is by having more disabled staff involved in Disability Services. The staff member with a disability will know more about the needs of the disabled students than those without a disability. Staff with disabilities will also have a better understanding of how to speak about disabled issues in a way that is not offensive. Additionally, Professors must have the proper education about the importance of accommodations and the impact it has on the education of students with disabilities. Training about the importance of accommodation and how to talk to students about their accommodations is extremely important. it should not be optional or something Professor she'll learn as they go. Additionally, there should be resources for students who want to learn about disability and disabled issues on campus. Speaking about Disability should not be frowned upon and kept secret. it should be normalized and conversations about it should be open on campus.
Conclusion
In conclusion, for decades, colleges have struggled to know what to do with students with disabilities. While improvements have been made, one of the main things we can do as students is listen to disabled voices and ensure that they have a platform on which they can speak. Additionally, going out of one's way to learn about disabled issues and topics can help make your college campus a more inclusive space. As a disabled student myself, I know about the challenges and frustrations that disabled students go through on a daily basis. However, I have not given up hope that colleges will put more effort into improving and maintaining the accessibility of their campuses.
Call to Donate
In order to help improve disability awareness on college campuses, I encourage you, if you're able, to donate to the Invisible Disabilities Association. Invisible disabilities are often overlooked on college campuses because they can go unnoticed. The Invisible Disabilities Association is a 501(c) nonprofit organization that focuses on providing awareness and education globally surrounding invisible disabilities and the struggles that people with disabilities face. By donating to this organization, you are helping fund programs and events dedicated to spreading awareness about invisible disabilities.
Paige Loomis is a senior at North Central College set to graduate in Fall 2023. She is studying International Business with a minor in Marketing. She is a student with a disability, and she is passionate about disabled advocacy. She hopes to use her degree and experiences to help promote inclusivity and positivity.