On July 27, 1990, The Daily Texan’s front page included an article headed “Local activists laud signing of federal disabled rights legislation,” which was a reference to the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Since then, UT’s campus has evolved to accommodate students with disabilities, and those who support their rights are still fighting for a more accessible campus.
UT had already invested more than ten years in audits and campus infrastructure upgrades when former President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which established enhanced protections and accommodations for people with disabilities, into law in the summer of 1990. However, the ADA expedited efforts to make the campus more accessible.
The University established the disability access center, formed a committee to prioritize and distribute funds for accessibility improvements, and started a report on barriers after the ADA was signed. With plans to destroy the old East Mall fountain to improve pedestrian and ADA compliance, UT has recently taken significant steps to improve accessibility.
According to Stephanie Myers, UT’s deputy ADA coordinator, “we have forums with the campus community in the fall and the spring where we gather information about what people need on campus.” Smaller things, such as switching a doorknob from a knob to a lever, might nevertheless have significance.
Accessibility improvements, including the establishment of an endowment to pay for disability testing and the prioritization of restroom accessibility in response to a student petition, were also facilitated by community and student advocacy for equitable facilities and programming, according to UT ADA coordinator Jennifer Maegden.
According to Maegden, our pupils are among our greatest and most valuable resources. Being students, they have been crucial in influencing many changes by speaking up and ensuring that their priorities are understood.
Evie Olsen, a senior studying human ecology, has been using the Disability Access Center since her freshman year, when she was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), fibromyalgia, and many anxiety disorders. Olsen stated that she experiences dizziness and nausea whenever she reaches up, bends over, or walks because of POTS, which causes her heart rate to increase by 50 beats per minute every time she stands up. According to Olsen, concessions like extra time for exams, note-taking assistance, and test breaks have been highly beneficial.
Olsen stated that a professor recently informed her that he does not provide accommodations regardless of the situation, despite the ADA’s requirement that instructors adhere to student accommodations. She was anxious about passing the class and had to make ends meet. She fought for her accommodations for a whole semester before the professor eventually allowed her to use them, Olsen said.
I deserve my education just as much as any other student in the class, so honoring my accommodations is as easy as honoring that right, Olsen said. You are depriving me of my right to education when you refuse to make adjustments for me. I hope more academics would recognize it as a necessity rather than only a desire or a preference.
Olsen expressed her hope that UT will develop a more effective system for impaired students to navigate the campus in the future. According to her, there is no assurance that a golf cart will be available when a disabled student needs it, and the golf carts that now drive down Speedway require students to flag them down. She added that because it sometimes take weeks to get accommodations, she hopes the Disability Access Center will undergo structural upgrades.
It’s crucial to remember that students shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility of making campus more accessible; rather, Olsen stated that the University should take the initiative to remove any obstacles to accessibility. I’m not sure if it will occur or not.
