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Administration Tries to Accomodate Physically Disabled Students
By Helen Bradshaw ‘10
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

When was the last time you were inconvenienced? Was it trying to find a parking spot at the mall to get some after-Thanksgiving shopping done? Was a book you needed for last minute research unavailable? What if you were inconvenienced every day just trying to get around campus?

Most people would be frustrated if they had difficulty moving between the upper and lower quads, getting to and from Prothro, or getting to classes on the second floor of Fletcher. They might even complain a little. Students who are wheelchair-bound or on crutches face this challenge every day, but we rarely hear them complain.

In order for these students to get to Prothro from the upper quad they must either follow Chapel Road or the sidewalk in front of Fletcher to the gym and then follow the path to Prothro from there or take the elevator in Dew and exit through the basement.

Most of the residence buildings are equipped with elevators, but not all of the academic buildings are. Neither Grey nor Fletcher has an elevator and many classes are held on the upper floors of those buildings. Despite attempts to follow guidelines set out by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Sweet Briar’s campus is not well equipped for handicapped students, whether they are permanently disabled or temporarily out of commission. Dean Jonathan Green says, “Obviously, we have a number of struggles with this [adhering to federal guidelines] due to the historic buildings on campus that predate a sensitivity to universal accessibility. We do continue to try to improve accessibility every year. Automated doors, ramps, elevators, and curb cuts continue to be added to the campus. As buildings are renovated, we follow ADA guidelines in that process.”

Some of those renovations have included an ADA compliant room and bathroom in Grammer as well as more curb cuts, elevators, and ramps.

Getting around campus is obviously more difficult than it would ideally be for anyone not fully mobile, but the administration tries to make it possible for those people to live here comfortably. While many classes are scheduled in Fletcher and Grey, the registrar makes sure that students who cannot use stairs have classes only in buildings with elevators or on the lowest levels of those without.

If a student begins using crutches midway through a semester, any of her classes that are held in buildings without elevators are assigned to a new, accessible room. The admissions office communicates with incoming students about their needs to get around campus, and the health center acts as an advocate for those students once they arrive on campus.

Sweet Briar was not designed to be a fully mobile place for people on crutches or in wheelchairs, but the current administration is making a valiant effort to fix the situation. In the meantime, kudos to those students who we see every day assisting their disabled peers as they navigate our campus.