Fifteen years ago Dan Powell, a professor of art at the University of Oregon, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and for the last several years has been in a wheelchair. Working at the Millrace Studios on the north side of Franklin Boulevard, Powell has to ride the bus from downtown to work each morning and he thinks accessibility at the university could be better.
“I’m not one to complain,” Powell said. “I don’t have a lot of trouble but there are things that could be better. More door operators would be nice.”
Thirty-nine students on the UO campus are registered with the Accessible Education Center with some form of mobility disability. These are just registered students with the AEC — there are likely more who just have not had any problems with class locations yet, AEC senior director Hilary Gerdes said.
Current protocol for issues with inaccessibility routes to a classroom location is for the student to inform the AEC and the class to be relocated.
The Americans with Disabilities Act describes an accessible route as “A continuous unobstructed path connecting all accessible elements and spaces of a building or facility.”
Relocation numbers are down with the increase of campus buildings having accessible routes and Gerdes said fewer than 10 relocations are done a term.
With the exception of Friendly and Volcanology halls, most buildings on campus have some form of accessible route.
“A big issue with Friendly is that the installation of an elevator would have to eliminate at least one office from each floor or the elevator would have to be attached on the outside,” said Fred Tepfer, a planning associate with Campus Planning.
Campus improvements vary from interior remodeling to full on renovations. With certain buildings on campus, such as Deady, special planning was taken into account in order to preserve its historical significance. Allen and Fenton hall were partially gutted and accessible routes and elevators were incorporated into the new design. And these efforts have not gone unnoticed.
“Everyone has been so wonderful and gracious with fixing things to help me out,” Powell said.
The idea of universal design is a concept that has been gaining popularity and the UO has been a leader, along with Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin, Tepfer said.
While the university is ahead in campus design, there are still things planning cannot control such as the distance between student’s classes and the reliability of elevators and door operators.
The university offers resources like the Access Shuttle to reduce the time and distance a student must travel for class. The Access Shuttle runs Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“The shuttle currently requires a student to call ahead and request service,” said Penelope Daugherty, director of Affirmative Action, “and the hours aren’t necessarily convenient if a student has a late class or is studying late on campus.”