Editorial: Make Doane accessible

Staff Editorial
Dec. 2, 2004, Page 5

Doane may be obeying the letter of the law when it comes to handicapped accessability in its buildings, but not the spirit.
When The Doane Owl reporter Melanie Anderson investigated Doane’s handicapped accessibility (see Page 1) she found that while many buildings on the Doane campus were handicapped accessible, just in inconveinient ways.
For example, to get from level to level in Padour Walker, a wheelchair bound person would have to exit the building and follow a sloping, curving sidewalk.
This may be fine in the summer, but in a Nebraska winter, with ice and snow on the sidewalks?
Doane is taking some steps to correct some of the problems, including handicapped parking spaces that block access to the doors near Gaylord Hall and Butler Gym.
There are also plans to make the Communcations Building more accessible than it is now.
But why has it taken this long for these problems to be noticed?
Prehaps it is because Doane doesn’t have many students on campus that use wheelchairs.
In that case, the lack of reasonable handicapped accessability on the Doane campus could be contributing to the lack of handicapped students.
Doane needs to rethink its handicapped accessibility.
Sure, a student in a wheelchair could get into most of the rooms in most of the buildings on campus.
But that student would have to go to a lot of trouble to do it.
Doane needs to remember that in order to be truly handicapped accessible, handicapped studetns should be able to move around campus buildings and sidewalks with a minimum of extra hassle.
When there are no buttons to open the doors, the hills on campus are steep enough to make a person feel like their wheelchair will tip over and a person has to jump through extra hoops in order to get around, there is not true handicapped accessiblity.
Doane needs to revamp its handicapped accessibility, and make it easier for handicapped students to move around campus.
Making sure the new buildings on campus are handicapped accessible is a good start, but more time and money needs to be spent on fixing up the older ones.
So make it easier for handicapped people to get around campus.
After all, you don’t have to be able to walk in order to enjoy the benefits of a college education.