Disabilities committee issues report on campus

The University Disability Issues Committee issued its first report approximately a week ago and is now awaiting administrative responses to its recommendations.

In its report, the UDIC, headed by David Mann-Podrasky '05, examined all aspects of campus and identified problem areas for disabled students. The report called for changes for public safety, academic buildings, campus grounds and Dillon Gym. In addition, the committee has begun planning for a disabilities awareness day to be held in April.

Mann-Podrasky first organized the UDIC in the fall of this year, and the committee consists of ten members, some disabled themselves and others not. Currently, the group is a subgroup of the Undergraduate Life Committee but is in the process of becoming a student group in order to gain funding.

Charlotte Lanvers '04, a member of the committee, said she felt a committee of this kind was needed on campus.

"The administration deals with disability issues privately but never offered a public forum," Lanvers said. "It lacked a public voice at Princeton."

Lanvers is leading the planning of a disability awareness day on campus in April. She said most universities devote some time on campus to disability awareness.

The report also addressed public safety and recommended implementing a special parking pass, devoting an officer exclusively to medical transport, and adding additional sensitivity training for public safety officers.

In addition, the report recommended that the University make the disability accessible entrances to academic buildings available at all times. In the section on campus grounds, UDIC recommended adding smooth pathways, reducing the number of stairs, and improving lighting and drainage. In addition, UDIC identified Dillon as a major problem area.

Kristen Wieghaus '03 investigated Dillon and found it to be one of the least accessible buildings on campus to disabled students.

"It's interesting because I go there several times a week and never even thought about it," Wieghaus said. "Disabled students can't even get in the front door because there are three steps."

In what Mann-Podrasky called a "highlight" of the report, the UDIC found student employment a model for the University in its accommodating treatment for disabled students.

Mann-Podrasky said the UDIC has three primary projects on its schedule for the rest of this year. In addition to planning Disability Awareness Day and following up on its report, the committee will also investigate the accessibility of the eating clubs.

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Mann-Podrasky said just three of the 11 eating clubs, Cap & Gown, Colonial and Quadrangle, are accessible to disabled students. In addition, many of the eating clubs have no plans to become disability accessible.

Because the eating clubs are private, residential property, they are exempt from the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"With the University, we have the law behind us. With the clubs, all we really have is the support of the University community," Mann-Podrasky said.

Thus far, Mann-Podrasky said the University has been fairly cooperative. However, he said the UDIC has found it difficult because the people who make these decisions are spread throughout the University administration.

Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Maria Flores-Mills said any change that would occur on campus would be the collaborative effort of many different groups.

Flores-Mills praised the UDIC as a "great step" and said she felt it offered a way by which the University-run Disability Services Network could learn from students who experience life with disabilities.

The DSN is an information sharing group for various administrative departments.

But Mann-Podrasky emphasized the importance of including a student voice, as the UDIC does.

He said the main goal of the UDIC is to challenge the way the University perceives its disabled community.

"I don't think we're asking the University for too much," Mann-Podrasky said. "I don't think the recommendations were on the whole extremely drastic or dramatic."