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Wheelchair accessibility improves on campus but needs more, students say
LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
Navigating the University's campus can be tricky. With steep hills and twisting sidewalks, it can be difficult finding the right path and climbing the slopes of Mount Oread.
However, for the students and faculty who use wheelchairs, navigating the campus takes on another level of complication.
Alice Zhang, a graduate student and Vice President of the student group Able-Hawks and Allies, has been at the University for more than three years. Zhang's had to learn to adapt to the challenges that come with using a wheelchair on campus.
The University's LayLift service, a door-to-door paratransit system helps Zhang get to-and-from campus, when she needs to.
"That's basically how I can get to campus and go home and go to different places on campus," Zhang said. "Besides going to school and studying education, the most critical services is Jay-Lift. It has a higher rank than Watkins Health Service to me."
For the most part, Zhang said she believes the service is efficient and useful. However, that doesn't mean it's not without its hiccups. Zhang said earlier this semester, she had trouble with trying to secure a ride during fall break because they didn't have a regular evening driver.
"The dispatch told me. "No, we cannot offer you rides. It's Fall break, the students get off early, and we don't offer rides," she said. "And in that case, I had
The University buses are also equipped to transport students and faculty who use wheelchairs. The Parking and Transit Associate Director Danny Kaiser said all University buses have been equipped with a wheelchair Ift or ramp since 2007.
"I cannot imagine how I would navigate the campus without JayLift because a lot of the time it's really hard to navigate those hills," Zhang said.
Dorothy Nary, Assistant Research Professor for the Research and Training Center on Independent Living and advisor for Able-Hawks and Allies, was part of the 2005 advocacy group to make KU on Wheels, the University's public transport system, accessible. Although Nary said she believes the University has done well in transporting students who use wheelchairs, there are still areas for improvement.
to just advocate for myself and say that's just not been the case in the past. Even if there's Fall break, we still need that service." Zhang said having access to JayLift is a vital part of her experience at the University.
Nary said one of the difficulties with bus transportation is the time it takes to tie down a wheel chair. As a result, buses are sometimes thrown off schedule.
"One of the problems is that people have different types of chairs, so I think it's hard to find a universal tie-down system that doesn't take the driver having to tie something down at four points," Nary said.
Kaiser said all drivers are thoroughly trained in doing tie-downs, but sometimes delays
"It's just something we have to deal with." Kaiser said.
Kelsey Shinnick is a graduate student and president of Able Hawks and Allies. Shinnick said she believes the bus system to be "very robust." but there are still gaps where students with disabilities might not be able to get around.
are unavoidable.
"If you wanted to attend a campus event that's on Sunday, you're out of luck unless you have someone that's able to pick you up,and even then,not all people are able to do the transfer independently, and it gets really hairy," Shinnick said.
One of those gaps is on Sundays, when University transportation does not operate.
For students who don't want to take the buses or JayLift, the University has also devised a path dubbed "Hawk Route," where students in wheelchairs are able to travel from Sunnyside Avenue to Jayhawk Boulevard. Nary said that although the path is step-free, it isn't exactly accessible.
"It's not streamlined; you have to go through a couple of buildings and around things," Nary said.
In addition, Nary said there are certain areas that may be difficult to travel, especially in a manual chair.
"When you leave Malott Hall, and head over to Anschutz, there's a ramp that is very difficult to negotiate and it doesn't have a side rail on it, so it's easy to slip into the mud," Nary said.
Zhang said it can be discouraging to try and take the Hawk Route.
"It just doesn't work well, and also it's a little bit confusing. I think it would help if there is some kind of signage," Zhang said.
Although the Hawk Route has a few difficulties, Nary said accessibility on campus is good in other areas. All classrooms provide removable seating, or if they're in a lecture hall, designated locations for students using wheelchairs.
Most of the buildings on campus have elevators and are wheelchair accessible on all floors, according to a map from the University's Academic Achievement and Access Center. Just last year, the University added a wheelchair accessible ramp to the front of Strong Hall.
"If you wanted to
if you wanted to attend a campus event that's on Sunday, you're out of luck unless you have someone that's able to pick you up, and even then, not all people are able to do the transfer independently, and it gets really hairy."
KELSEY SHINNICK President, AbleHawks and Allies
Shinnick said Able-Hawks and Allies is currently working on rebuilding membership, and collaborating with other minority groups on campus to raise awareness of both physical and invisible disabilities.
Able-Hawks and Allies is also
particularly working with Active Minds, the student group for the awareness and support of mental health. Shinnick said there is talk of co-sponsoring an event that would recognize the link between mental illness and disability.
"One of the primary secondary conditions that people with disabilities have is depression, for example," Shinnick said.
Nary said Able-Hawks is also working with the campus career center to sponsor a workshop in the spring semester for students on how to interview with a disability.
"There's a lot of questions about what are illegal questions, and what happens when you're asked an illegal question," Nary said. "If you have an invisible disability, when do you reveal it and do you reveal it at all? How do you let a person know that this needs to be an accessible place?"
Nary said the career center workshop is an important part of teaching students with disabilities to advocate for themselves outside of college. She said she believes that as medical technologies advance, universities will be seeing more and more students with disabilities, making accessibility more important than ever.
"We've done really well at saving lives, but not so well at helping people have a life," Nary said. She added: "Getting a university education is huge to a lot of people, and KU needs to be ready to make sure people succeed."
Edited by Derek Skillett
LARA KORTE/KANSAN
Sam Eastes is the new Men and Masculinities programs assistant for the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity.
Emily Taylor Center program assistant aims to start dialogue among KU men
LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
Sam Eastes, a junior from Pratt, was recently named the Men and Masculinities programs assistant at the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity.
The Emily Taylor Center has worked with Men and Masculinities since its opening in 1975. Eastes will work in collaboration with Director Kathy Rose-Mockry and Assistant Director Andrea Kleekamp to organize programming focused around men and masculinity.
Prior to working at the Emily Taylor Center, Eastes was an orientation assistant and later orientation coordinator. Through his exposure to different groups on campus, Eastes said he became very passionate about social justice and diversity issues.
"When I came to KU it was
"One of the things we will continue to do with the work Sam does is to take a pulse and see what's going on with the men on campus," Rose-Mockry said.
Rose-Mockry said a focus of the Center's work in the upcoming months will be to look at how masculinity appears in different spaces.
"We know that men of color are more likely to drop out, to leave college without finishing their degree. We know that sexual minority students or those within the LGBTQ community can often feel that the climate is not particularly welcoming and may leave because of that or may not end
just very eye-opening, and I'm always learning. So when this position opened up, I was just really excited about it," he said.
In particular, Rose-Mockry said the center will talk to men of color and those within the LGBTQ+ community.
Eastes said he has always enjoyed talking with others about issues regarding masculinity and is excited to do more by working as the programs assistant.
"It's great to talk about it and great to take it a step further and implement programs and talk to other folks about what that looks like in other places here on campus," Eastes said. "We want to know what the issues are with masculinity, what topics in masculinity are we not talking about and what do we need to bring up more."
up graduating." Rose-Mockry said. "Masculinity is not one-size fits all. How that is enacted for a white, straight man is not the same for the gay man of color or the transgender hispanic man. It's a different experience, and it's important we acknowledge that."
Currently Eastes and Rose-Mockry are organizing a Men and Masculinities Symposium. The symposium is an all-day program with dialogues, workshops and presentations focused on exploring negative and positive aspects of masculinity. Anyone interested in registering can contact the Emily Taylor Center for more information.
Until then, Eastes said he will continue working with the staff members at the Center to open up conversations on campus and implement educational opportunities for students.
"I'm very excited," Eastes said. "There are so many conversations that we started and could go much further. And there are so many conversations that we're not having right now that we need to have. And I'm so excited to explore those with the folks in this office."
Edited by Rebecca Dowd
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