Classroom in Bond Hall. Ella Banken//AS Review
By Jacob Pederson
Updated 5/23 for a clarifying detail
Maggie Mittelstaedt, is a second-year behavioral neuroscience student with Cerebral palsy. Even with the help of her balance dog, Tuxedo, nicknamed “Tux,” and a wheelchair, she faces challenges other students do not experience.
On top of being a full-time student, she must self-advocate for her own accessibility needs. Once, she was almost denied a seat in her Chemistry lab because dogs were not allowed in the laboratory and she had to defend her ability to allow Tux into the lab with her.
Inaccessibility barriers in classrooms, lecture halls, bathrooms, crosswalks and parking lots present unique academic challenges to students with disabilities. This could contribute to the fact that 18 percent fewer people with disabilities have a bachelor’s degree than abled people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 percent fewer people with disabilities have a bachelor’s degree than abled people. Inaccessibility barriers in classrooms, lecture halls, bathrooms, crosswalks and parking lots present unique academic challenges to students with disabilities that could contribute to the fact.
Some of the classrooms are too crowded and have the wrong types of desks to be navigable to students with disabilities. Mittelstaedt said that this has been her experience in her classes in Miller Hall.
“Those desk-chair combinations make it very difficult to move around in the classroom,” she said. “Because there’s so many desks and chairs crammed into one room that, if you’re using a wheelchair, that isn’t even possible with the way the chairs are set up.”
Other buildings have desk-chair combinations in their classrooms as well, such as Bond Hall, Old Main, Arntzen Hall, Humanities and parts of Academic West.
According to an article by Andrea Dixon on Americans With Disabilities Act classroom accessibility requirements, 5 percent of classroom seating must be accessible. However, besides desk height requirements, the ADA contains few specifications on what this accessibility looks like.
“It’s on the person with the disability,” Mittelstaedt said.
Mittelstaedt says that it is up to the students to notify the Disability Access Center if they need a different location for a class in order to provide accommodations. After this point, academic barriers can remain, such as reaching the teacher if the entrance is at the back of the room while the instructor is up front.
Arntzen Hall 101, where many mass-lectures are held, is one example of a lecture hall where the only accessible area is the back of the large amphitheater-style rooms.
“I have friends that use wheelchairs and have had had that problem and they didn’t realize the classroom wasn’t accessible,” she said. “And they had to sit in the very back of the lecture hall, and they couldn’t see the slides.”
The International Journal of Applied Studies conducted a study on classroom seating and how it affects academic success. They found that students learn the material better if they sit up in the front of the classroom. They have an easier time seeing and hearing, greater access to classroom resources, higher motivation to participate and a much easier time focusing.
As of 2018, Western accommodated 52 students with accessibility needs, and there could have been more if students with other challenges such as missing limbs are factored in, according to the DAC. However, university facilities were not all designed to take accessibility for these individuals into account.
Daman Wandke, the founder and CEO of the disability advocacy organization AbiliTrek, and co-founder of the Disability Outreach Center on campus, said he struggled with this issue when he attended Western.
“One of the big issues I had when I was a student is that I had trouble opening doors,” he said. “Every time I had to use the bathroom, I had to have someone open the door.”
Bathrooms with automatic doors are in the Viking Union, Performing Arts Center and in the Environmental Studies Building, Wandke said. However, the majority of buildings on campus have non-automatic doors, which could pose a challenge to students with disabilities.
The quantity and placement of accessibility stalls in bathrooms is also a barrier for those who need mobility aid devices.
“A lot of times, there’s only one,” said Mittelstaedt. “And it’s at the very end of the bathroom, so if it’s between classes, which is a very popular time to use the bathroom, you have to fight through people to get to that last stall.”
Mittelstaedt said that this can make it take longer to get to her classes. Sometimes she has to wait 20 minutes for the bathroom to clear out, or for the disability stall to be vacant before she can head to her next class.
Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California conducted research on tardiness and its effects on academic success. The research showed a correlation between students being late to class and lower test scores. With facilities that slow down certain students over others, students with disabilities could potentially be at a disadvantage when taking exams compared to their fellow abled students.
According to an article on college success for students with disabilities by the Hechinger Report, only a third of students with disabilities graduate within eight years despite their ability to grasp the subject matter with the right accommodations.
Some of these barriers exist because many campus buildings were built before ADA was passed, according to Mittelstaedt. Even with regulations now, ease of accessibility in new campus buildings could be improved by including the voices of those with disabilities, according to Wandke.
“When they do a new construction, they do not include students with disabilities,” he said. “I feel like new buildings could be more accessible if people with disabilities could be involved.”
The design of campus walkways and locations of accessible parking make navigation difficult for people with disabilities.
Executive Director of the Max Higbee Center Kait Whiteside said with the campus being so large and streets like South College Way with traffic lights and timed crosswalks, these crossings might not be long enough for those who have a disability.
“I have a feeling that they just kind of roll the dice” Whiteside said, referring to when people with disabilities cross at busy intersections.
Much of the disability parking is in the C-lot at the southern tip of campus, said Wandke, which requires someone to cross at the intersection of Bill McDonald Parkway and West College Way. Mittelstaedt said she finds it challenging to cross there in time.
According to a study by Tim J. Gates, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Michigan State University, most crosswalks have a crossing time based on four feet per second, whereas people with disabilities need four to six seconds longer.
Efforts are underway to improve accessibility on campus. Mittelstaedt draws hope from DAC Director Jon McGough and University President Sabah Randhawa’s support for making the campus more functional for every student.
Wandke is enthused by the completion of a new DAC with a new accessible entrance to the Wilson Library in the library basement, Suite 170. However, the lack of accessible parking near the library to accommodate DAC employees with disabilities and students in need of its services might be a problem when the new center is finished, according to Mittelstaedt.
Although barriers and academic inequalities exist on campus, steps are being taken to address them.
“It really just comes down to conscious choices and things people do to affect accessibility,” said Whiteside.