6A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10,2002
Taking on Mount Oread
Students who use wheelchairs face extra challenges on the hill
Born with cerebral palsy, Demian Ordinachev does not have use of his left hand and gets around on campus using a wheelchair. "If I'm paying for my education, I should be able to get the same opportunities," Ordinachev said.
Lindsey Gold/Kansan
ByKatie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Two and a half years ago Nicole Denney didn't have to worry about getting rides to her classes. She didn't have to worry about how she was going to get into buildings, or how she was going to get over curbs. But then again, back then Denney didn't use a wheelchair.
Denney, a Leavenworth freshman, gets from her Lewis Hall dorm room to her classes on campus using the wheelchair-accessible Liftvan, a KU on Wheels service. From there she drives her motorized wheelchair into the buildings. Getting around campus isn't hard, she says, there are just irritations along the way.
Denney goes to Strong Hall on a regular basis to get to her math class and the Services for Students with Disabilities office. There, the only wheelchair accessible entrance is in the back of the building.
"You'd think the main doors would be in front," she said, shrugging. "It's annoying. I'll get used to it I guess."
Yet some more seasoned KU students who use wheel chairs aren't as accepting. Demian Ordinachev, a 24-year-old sophomore, has been attending KU part-time for five years.
"It pisses me off," he said of irritations such as Strong Hall's rearentrance. "I pay all this money to go into these beautiful buildings, and it's like go into the gutter and around back... If I'm paying for my education I should be able to get the same opportunities."
After being in Lawrence since he was 15, Ordnachev knows well the challenges the city and campus have to offer- and they don't necessarily make him happy.
TOP 10 ACCESSIBLE UNIVERSITIES
1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2. University of California at Berkeley
3. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
4. University of Wisconsin; Madison and Whitwater campuses
5. University of Colorado at Denver
6. Florida State University; Tallahassee
7. University of California at Los Angeles
8. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
9. Weynes State University, Detroit
10. Texas A&M University, College Station
source: NewMobility.com Sept. 98
Denney and Ordinachev are two of the about ten students who use a wheelchair at the University of Kansas. Daily, a pair of brakes and four small wheels are all that stands between them and a campus with 7,018 stairs. It's a manageable task they and others say, but one with difficulties.
Handling college from a wheelchair
Ordinachev is working on completing Math 002 this semester, getting computer certified by Microsoft and creating a programming service he calls "Dynamic E Services."
Yet, Ordinachev doesn't use his left hand much, and walks with the help of a walker or crutches because of a mild case of cerebral palsy. On campus, he uses a wheelchair. All in all, he moves a bit slower than most, he said. "What I say is, 'anything you can do in an hour. I can do in three.'" he said.
There are changes Ordinachew would like to see at KU that would make life easier for people who use wheelchairs. He has qualms with the way he was treated by some people he met while living in the dorms. He recalls being harassed by other students while he lived in Oliver Hall during the 1997-98 school year. He attributes the students' actions to a lack of sensitivity or awareness.
False fire alarms were also a problem during his time with Student Housing. False alerts were rampant, he said. Getting out of the building wasn't a problem if he was in his room on the ground level of the building, but what if he was up on the eighth floor, studying with friends?
"Obviously I can't get out of the building," he said.
"So I would get left up there. Granted it was most always a false alarm, but no one told me that."
Using a wheelchair makes it hard to lead a "typical" college life, Ordnachev said.
"I bet most people never think about why I can't go to a bar and get trashed out of my mind. I'd get busted for a D, U.L. if they catch me using my wheelchair."
It's the lack of understanding from people who don't use wheelchairs that makes him wish there was a student organization for people with disabilities.
Fellowship with others like him would ease feelings of isolation, he said. It would create a group that better understands his issues — big or small.
Disability resources on campus
KU's Services for Students with Disabilities office helps students such as Ordinachev. New Interim Director Mary Ann Rasnak has big hopes for the SSD office. She wants to do more to increase awareness about disabilities, she says, by bringing in speakers, creating athletic teams and possibly forming a club like Ordinachev suggested.
So far this year, the SSD office is working with nine students who have mobility disabilities. In addition to working directly with students, a representative from that office also serves on the Architectural Barriers Committee, which oversees KU's Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. Jim Modig, head of University Design and Construction, leads the meetings, which about seven to ten University faculty and staff attend.
The committee serves the KU community well, when it meets, said member Dot Nary, assistant director of KU's Research and Training Center on Independent Living. Nary has been using a wheel chair since 1988, and makes disability advocacy a priority.
But, the Architectural Barriers Committee has met only once in the last year and a half, committee member Steve Ramirez said, who is KU's Americans with Disabilities Act compliance coordinator. No meetings are scheduled for the future either.
When asked about the rarity of his committee's meetings, Modig said that he hoped for them to start meeting on a monthly basis soon.
An act for action
The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act requires KU to make the campus as accessible as possible for people with disabilities. ADA requirements, which took effect July 26, 1992, ensures access to state and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities and transportation for the about 43,000 Americans who have physical or mental disabilities. It stems from the first wave of disability rights law in the 1970s.
The act has dramatically changed the way the University had to think about how it was accommodating for people who use wheelchairs, Ramirez said. The University spends sometimes more than a $100,000 a year specifically for accessibility improvements, according to Modig. Even then it's hard to pinpoint exactly how much KU spends though.
"Every project that we do, we incorporate accessibility into the design." Modig said. "So for me to give an exact number on what we spend on just accessibility is extremely difficult to do. It's always being factored into our plans."
KU follows the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, for new building construction and alterations. Most of these requirements involve installing ramps, making curb cuts in sidewalks, rearranging furniture, widening doorways, and creating larger bathroom stalls. Other things to consider are insulating water pipes under sinks to prevent burns, raising toilet seats and installing full-length bathroom mirrors. Assembly area seating and parking is also addressed.
During the last 11 years, the University has spent more than $5.1 million on adjustments such as these,
ulation, elevator shafts, Modig said.
said Modig. An average of $102,000 a year is designated by KU for accessibility improvements.
"Most of the time compliance isn't a problem," Ramirez said. "But because we are sitting on top of a hill, sometimes it's technically unfeasible."
The ADA requirements note that if measures aren't completely compliant, it's okay as long as they pose no health or safety risks. KU sometimes has to utilize this clause, especially when dealing with old, smaller than reg-
How are they doing?
Although KU isn't regarded as one of the most wheelchair accessible universities in the country,it's not bad either, according to Bob Mikesic, of Independence Inc., a non-profit disability advocacy agency that serves people Douglas, Jefferson and Franklin counties. Independence Inc. helps people with disabilities become more self-sufficient by offering transportation help, job training among other things.
Mikesic, who has been Independence Inc.'s ADA specialist since 1986, hasn't heard any complaints lately from students.
"KU has come a long way over the years." Mikesic said. "They have a lot of old historic buildings, and adequately tries to respond to specific complaints."
Moving on
“It’s faster than your average walker, but slower than a jogger.” he said.
It's Jason Schrage's fifth year at KU, but his third here using a wheelchair. The Iowa City senior uses a battery-powered chair to get around campus, which when fully charged, lasts up to 20 miles, he said. Even so, he's not getting anywhere quick.
Schrage "ladders" up and down the hill to get to his classes, going from building to building using elevators. "I go whatever route is the easiest, but sometimes it takes three, four elevators, and one, two, three four, five, or six doors," he said. It's time consuming, and he's often late to class.
Schrage is finishing the history and geography majors he started before he was in a car accident that made using a wheelchair necessary. After taking time off for rehabilitation, coming back KU was the obvious choice, he said. This is where his friends are, and where he wanted to get his degree.
"Those five or ten minutes of missed class really add up," he said.
But it's his choice to come to a college on a hill, he admits, so he deals with it.
Schrage's classes are mostly in Wescoe and Lindley Halls, which are easy to get around in, he said. But he also frequents Watson Library for research, where he's had trouble. Until last summer, the building didn't have automatic, push-button doors. He was left to rely on other's to open it for him.
Schrage started his request for a new door in May 2001 by going to the Services for Students with Disabilities Office, where he told them of his obstacle. The request was then sent on to University Design and Construction, which looked at the need, feasibility, and cost.
Cost turned out to be the biggest factor in hindering Schrage's request, said James Modig, head of Design and Construction. New doors typically cost from $2,500 to $5,000, and two are usually installed at a time, Modig said. Watson's doors have air-assist openers that were installed in the early 80s, changing where an automatic door button could be placed and increasing the cost.
"I know they aren't required by law," Schrage said of the automatic doors. "But it's 2002, it seems like we should be more advanced than this."
It's a problem he'll always encounter during his time at KU, he said.
"I'll make the best of it if it's what I have to do to stay here."
—Edited by Jessica Hood