UMW was not designed for students with disabilities

by YZABEL ILAO

Staff Writer

Westmoreland Hall, Ball Hall, the UMW Apartments—These residential buildings have one thing in common: There is no elevator. 

I never thought much of it when I moved to the UMW Apartments in spring 2024. Moving into my second-floor apartment was a hassle, but I never had a problem going up and down the stairs to and from classes. The first time accessibility crossed my mind was when my grandmother had to go up the stairs to my apartment despite excruciating pain in both of her knees. My relatives stood behind her to ensure that she would not get hurt. I was in front of her, watching her feel the gravity of each step pushing down on her knees. That memory resurfaced for me last fall during my English 295 class when we discussed disability studies.

My professor asked if anyone could think of examples where places were designed for only the able-bodied. Many of the students brought up their experiences of inaccessibility at UMW. Some students mentioned how challenging it is to navigate around campus with their disability or when they were temporarily injured. Other students mentioned how their dorm buildings do not have elevators or lack necessary wheelchair accessibility. Hearing these negative experiences baffled me because the student body deserves better accessibility to a place they paid for. Now, a new semester is upon us. Has UMW’s accessibility improved for its students since then?

Universities were designed for the able-bodied. There’s an expectation that a “college student” is young, healthy and can walk to and from classes. Sure, the campus is built beautifully and is rich with history, but that’s only to distract you from the fact that UMW lacks decent accessibility. 

UMW was founded in 1908, but it wasn’t until the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, that allowed disabled students to attend Virginia colleges. Moreover, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 reinforced protected rights for disabled people and set accessibility requirements to make daily life easier. The Office of Disabilities, or ODR as many students call it, was also created to comply with these laws. 

“Accommodations are determined and approved through a collaborative process between ODR, the student and their medical or mental health providers. Ultimately though, ODR has the responsibility to determine what reasonable accommodations look like for our campus,” said Alex Ecklund, Director of the Office of Disability Resources.

Nowadays, the schema of the “college student” is more diverse. A college student can be an elderly woman with arthritis or an athlete who walks on crutches due to a recent sports injury.  Yet, daily life on campus for disabled students is not easy when accessibility acts as a performative remedy. When you look at UMW’s architecture and layout, it is stunning but there are discrepancies. There’s that spectacular spiral staircase in Ball Hall, but no elevator. The only elevator in Combs Hall squeaks suspiciously when you approach the third floor. 

The bare minimum shouldn’t be praised when students deal with subpar accessibility daily.

I reconnected with one of my classmates from my English 295 class, Crook Campbell, a junior computer science major, who has been affected by lapses in accessibility on campus. 

“It can be kind of rough because there’s usually only one elevator or one set of elevators in the building working and if they’re down, they’re down,” said Campbell.

Campbell also brought up a challenging experience getting dinner at the Top of the Cedric Rucker University Center while both elevators were broken. 

“I had to forgo dinner the other day because I could not get from here to there up the stairs and my body was like done with it,” Campbell said. “I can walk up the stairs, it just takes me forever and it hurts but I have friends who are almost exclusively wheelchair users. What are they going to do? Nothing.”

“It’s important to note that while ODR (and its registered students), take an active role in advocating for culture change and physical change on campus – we are one of many stakeholders,” said Ecklund. “We firmly believe that accessibility is everyone’s responsibility on campus. We frequently require and enjoy partnership from other offices on campus.”

Additionally, Ecklund provided information about UMW’s Accessibility Improvements project website. These projects involve making residence halls, academic buildings and the overall campus more accessible this spring. Still, as of right now, the diverse student body must conform to the UMW’s able-bodied design.