Christine Theodoropoulos discovered a little about what it is like for a disabled person to navigate campus buildings when she brought her child to campus in a stroller. She looked for ramps and had to find appropriate elevators to get to her destination.
As the department head of the architecture department, this experience gave Theodoropoulos insight to a subject area already well-known to her: compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We have to be sensitive to issues of dignity that alternative paths create,” Theodoropoulos said, adding that it changes our idea of community when some must use a separate entrance to get into a building.
Julie Grant was an undergraduate at the University in 1997 when an automobile accident left her partially paralyzed. She returned to school in 1998 after her recovery and completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2001. She gets around with the help of a retrofitted car and a wheelchair.
Grant said the most difficult part of maneuvering buildings on campus is the social situation it creates when she has to leave friends to find another entrance, elevator, ramp or lift.
“It can be awkward, especially when making new friends, to leave them and find another way to class,” Grant said. “You have to be bold enough to ask them to go with you.”
After graduating from the University, she worked at the University of Washington during 2003-04. When she decided to pursue a graduate degree in architecture, she chose the University of Oregon over UW partially because of wheelchair accessibility.
Retrofitting buildings that existed years before the ADA can sometimes be costly and difficult, according to Fred Tepfer, a University planning associate.
“It is an amazing challenge to thread an elevator through an existing building,” Tepfer said.
Theodoropoulos said cost and accessibility are not the only concerns.
“A retrofit may work,” she said, “but, socially, it may not be comfortable.”
Unlike retrofitting old buildings, the University had an opportunity to start with a relatively clean slate with Lillis Hall.
Tepfer said the construction of Lillis upgraded the three buildings it is connected with by making it easier for a disabled person to move from one building to another. The building has a repeating floor plan that makes it easier for the blind to navigate the halls in addition to socially conscientious locations of elevators and disabled entrances.
People may not notice small accessibility issues, but Tepfer is quick to point out design errors in buildings around campus.
Tepfer said Lawrence Hall could have been made more accessible if more thought had gone into the design. He said the elevator in the library could have been located near the entrance on the second floor. In that location, it could service all the floors of the building in addition to the library. As is, it can only serve two floors of the library.
Tepfer also said Friendly Hall and Fenton Hall are not 100 percent accessible. Not all the rooms, including some bathrooms, are accessible to someone in a wheelchair.
But Tepfer is also proud of efforts by the University to make the campus more accessible. He said the two main ramps to the EMU have greatly increased access to the facility.
Darrell Ackerman graduated from the University in 1977 and uses a wheelchair. He is currently the chairman of the Oregon Disabilities Commission, which advises state officials and agencies.
“When I was going to school, they were operating under section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (of 1973,” which prohibits discrimination and requires employers to hire, retain and promote individuals with disabilities. “They did their best to comply but weren’t always successful,” Ackerman said.
Ackerman said the two biggest problems he sees regularly are in design and construction, and he
remains incredulous about what he perceives as arrogance on the part of some architects.
“I’ve called architects who thought I was a contractor and they told me they were going to disregard some ADA requirements and hope for sympathy later,” Ackerman said. He added that they give the impression they don’t have to comply with the ADA.
Ackerman said during the construction phase, honest mistakes are sometimes made.
“With building code it comes down to inches,” Ackerman said. “But it’s a huge difference to someone in a wheelchair.”