Addison Watson
Staff Writer
awatson25@murraystate.edu
Students opened up to The News about their concerns with accessibility for students with disabilities on campus.
Jordan Lowe, senior from Frankfort, Illinois, has cerebral palsy. According to the Centers for Disease Control, cerebral palsy is a mobility disorder that affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture.
Lowe utilizes a wheelchair to aid in his mobility. While Lowe does have some mobility in his lower body and complete control of his upper body, he faces challenges and inconveniences that sometimes get in the way of his education.
“My case of cerebral palsy is minor when considering the spectrum of how severe my situation could be,” Lowe said. “I have the ability to pull doors open and stand up if necessary.”
Lowe has a class on the eighth floor of the Price Doyle Fine Arts Center. In order for him to use the restroom, he has to take the elevator down to the third floor, where his wheelchair will fit through the doorway.
“There are handicap-accessible restrooms, but it is a real pain to have to waste what should take five minutes at the most to use the bathroom, to suddenly taking 15 minutes because I have to go to a different floor, just to use the bathroom,” Lowe said.
Lowe said he frequently encounters the issue of students without disabilities using the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant restroom stalls.
“I have no issue with other students using the larger handicap stall, but when that is the only one I can get my wheelchair into, it frustrates me,” Lowe said. “It makes me have to wait and sometimes I don’t have time to wait.”
Lowe also said in order for him to get inside Pogue Library, he has to take a special route. Without elevators in the library, the only way for Lowe to get inside is to take the exterior corridor between Pogue Library and the Lowry Center.
When taking the wheelchair access ramp inside the Lowry Center, Lowe has to ride the elevator up to the second floor and then must go through the exterior corridor to be met by a door that he said is frequently locked.
Once Lowe makes it through the locked door, he then has access to the main floor of Pogue Library. When the time comes to leave, he has to reverse the steps he took to get inside Pogue, just to get out.
“I hate Pogue Library,” Lowe said. “It’s a pain in my butt just to get into.”
Lowe said he believed that while all of the ramps on Murray State’s campus are wide enough to comply with the ADA, they are not conducive for all wheelchairs or motor scooters.
“Most of the time, I don’t have any issues with the ramps, but I know some of my peers who are in motor scooters do,” Lowe said. “The ramps become an issue when you meet someone coming the other direction and there is no way to go.”
According to ADA guidelines, wheelchair ramps must be a minimum width of 36 inches. California and Massachusetts amended their ADA code to require all wheelchair ramps to be 48 inches wide to better aid their wheelchair-using communities.
Lowe said he would like to see them either widened or to be only used by students with disabilities.
However, Lowe said he sometimes has issues with the wheelchair ramps on campus during inclement weather, particularly the Lowry Center ramp.
“The ramp is steep, long and scary as hell,” Lowe said. “If it’s icy or slick, I just laugh.”
Though Lowe wishes accessibility could be improved on campus, he is happy with the way Murray State has treated him.
“I am graduating in a few weeks,” Lowe said. “I am [raising awareness] more as a way to help Murray [State] improve for future students who might have a disability.”
Ken Ashlock, director of the Office of Student Disability Services, said Murray State strives to make accommodations for students at their request.
“It is very much a collaborative effort between our office, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Access, and Facilities Management to address student concerns, and we do try to address them in a timely manner,” Ashlock said.
After expressing his concerns to Ashlock, the two toured campus so that Lowe could point out some of the areas where he has had issues.
Some of those concerns included the doorbell at the entrance to Pogue Library. They have since been addressed by the University.
“The Office of IDEA shared with me that the doorbell at the accessible entrance into Pogue Library has been replaced,” Ashlock said.
Another concern brought to Ashlock’s attention was related to the accessible entrance on the Northside of the Price Doyle Fine Arts Center.
“When the activation button is pressed there is a significant delay in the door automatically opening,” Lowe said. “This issue has been brought to the attention of Facilities Management as well.”
Lowe said the University administration has been very accommodating during his time at Murray State.
“I have an ADA-compliant room to live in,” Lowe said. “It allows me to live independently and I enjoy being able to do so because I know that not all students have this ability.”
Lowe’s room meets ADA guidelines and makes for an easier living arrangement. His bathroom has handrails adjacent to the toilet as well as in his shower. His shower has a folding bench for him to sit on and a detachable shower head to use. Lowe’s room also has a doorbell and a large flashing light that is activated when the doorbell button is clicked.
Some of the accommodations inside Lowe’s ground-floor room do not directly benefit him, but they benefit other students with disabilities. Lowe said when his friends who are handicapped and potentially looking at attending Murray State ask him how accessible the University is for students with disabilities, he can’t help but be honest.
“I would be lying if I told my friends that Murray State was the best university for handicap students,” Lowe said. “I haven’t been on other campuses, but I can’t imagine it would be more difficult to get into certain places than it is here.”
The News reached out to Camisha Duffy, executive director of IDEA regarding the concerns Lowe has about accessibility on campus. In her response, Duffy provided The News with the University’s equal opportunitity and non-discrimination statement.
The statement ensures the University is committed to providing equal opportunities for students, faculty and staff with disabilities in all of its offered services, programs and employment opportunities. To do so, the University complies with federal and state regulations regarding necessary reasonable accommodations. The statement also details the University’s policy to prohibit discrimination. The University’s full non-discrimination statement can be found on TheNews.org.
“If a member of the University community discovers an accessible feature is not working properly, please contact the Office of IDEA so that the matter can be addressed,” Duffy said. “Please be mindful that depending on the nature of the repair, alternative arrangements may be necessary to continue to provide access during the repair period.”
Simon Placr, junior from Columbia, South Carolina, who also has cerebral palsy, shared some of his concerns about campus accessibility with The News as well.
One issue brought up by Placr was the difficulty in obtaining a permit for accessible parking at Murray State. He said it is not publicized effectively to students with disabilities. Simon said he does not rely on anything to help him walk.
“If you need a handicap parking tag, the University doesn’t tell you how to get one,” Placr said. “They tell you how to get one of the typical parking tags.”
Students needing a permit for accessible parking must be approved through the Office of Student Disability Services before they can be issued a tag. There is also a $100 fee.
Placr said Murray State’s campus is very dark at night and that makes walking difficult for him as he does not have the ability to walk as easily as the average person. Placr said it becomes a problem especially when it has been raining and the campus walkways are flooded.
Placr also said students who are assisted in their mobility by the use of leg braces, wheelchairs or motor scooters face the danger of trying to walk across campus because it is so easy for the water to cause them to slip.
“Murray State has terrible draining so when it has been raining, I struggle to navigate the sidewalks and walkways because I don’t have the ability to do so easily,” Placr said. “It only becomes worse at night because the campus lighting is so poor.”
Placr said it is possible for people in wheelchairs to hydroplane across moving water which can become a dangerous situation for them if they are swept aside and rolled over.
He has not reached out to the Office of Student Disability Services or the Office of IDEA regarding his concerns.
Students, faculty and staff who have questions or concerns about accessible features or access in classrooms or buildings should contact the Office of Student Disability Services. Those who have questions or concerns about accessible features or access in the workplace should contact the Office of IDEA. Ken Ashlock, director of the Office of Student Disability Services can be reached at at 809-2018 or kashlock@murraystate.edu. Lea Bowland from the Office of IDEA can be reached at 809-3155 or msu.idea@murraystate.edu.