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lsiThe UPEI

Barriers f0 Disabled Person‘satquH

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i‘The UPEI SUN, March’4,-l982, page 5

.By John O'Brien '

Author's Note: 7 ‘

I was approached by the staff of the UPEI SUN to begin a series of. , articles on the barriers encountered by disabled persons at UPEI. I have,' to a lesser extent, confronted

‘ ’ Island citizens.

to deny access to many 7 The .a , problem is due, in part, ‘to the architectural barriers built into every building on campus—, the newest as-well as the oldest. Many of these ‘ problems can be overcome with a ndnimal amount of money, time, thought,

these barriers nyself; not onhy and labor (eg. the Barn_)

when I was temporarily disabled — but also when I worked for a PEI business which attempted to provide

more adeqhateptgénsp@ttationlg;

for\disablEd:persons:bn PEI... . . , , I want to thank the PEI Human Rights Cbnudsion's . secretary, the PEI Council For the Disabled's " ' "Outreach Progranﬂ staff, those "disabled" persons (students, lecturers, former students, and members of the general public ) , as well as those "non—disabled" persons, who have helped” me with this article. ‘ I_anisure,that there is much more I left uncovered, concerning the topic, but it was not possible for me to contact

ariwsfaatstusabiaa persons“*“

ior to find but who the 'l

all were) at

-)

fore, I inviteﬁiétteré ta _ the editor of this paper;'gm particularly , to point ‘ out things which I have»

left out»: ' ' ~I Question:_ How many steps

are there between the entrance 'to Duffy and the bottom floor. The answer is :J six. That's how far yOu.‘ have to lift a wheelchair in order to reach the ‘elevator in Duffy.

\For most of us,

‘ those steps are \, insignificant: we might-.“ not even notice the fact that the 0. y par; Qﬁithe '.buildingl‘ﬁ% 3‘”'”Eé ‘ person in as y / pyg _, is the amphitheatre and that there is no-elevatorf stoping at that level.

Many stairways at r A V UPEI do not have handrails, fer those people who_ ' require such_assistance because of a visible or W inviSible disability.

There is only one , elevator on campus with braille synbols on the control panel: the elevator in Memorial. ( It is ccnnendable that we have even One, so let’s give recognition where it'S' ‘due.)

In the light of

these (and other) facts, the University of Prince Edward Island continues}

3

But, shamefully,- there is were to the problem of accessability on canpus, .Although UPEI. is not knownfor“k R progressive.administration

"thinking, it has-maintained over.the years, a number of unrealistic attitudinal barriers concerning _ disabled people - particularly with respect to accessability. The university administration {is not the only problem, when it comes to attitude at UPEI. The student union building (the Barn) can easily be made accessable ‘on the ground floor level. (All it would take is a two foot long ramp, sore Hodifications to the ' washroom doors, and . possibly an adjustment to the height of the water -mfbﬁﬁféiﬁgfj.j:~ _lrig,vr.,% ,ﬂh JIERE'QEE‘adenistration salinion (ironically, the union that should be fighting the cause for disabled students) is not ignorant of these necessities, at . the Barn; and, so far, has‘ shown no intention to correct it. " '

The Robertson Library is the only building bn campus that is accesable to a person in a-wheelchair; however, it too; has some - buiitéin barriers . These include the water f0untains'

'(too high), the Student loange ramp'(too steep),: and the doOrS‘—.including~ washroomdoors. (too heavy).

‘~Saoam&WMIaqKaﬁﬁe. aestheticism on campus,‘ are aware of the positive.

IVsteps" taken, by the ‘ ‘ administration, in making

,Nhnorial to persons in x , wheelchairs. we applaud the good intentions of the administration but, had it consulted diéabled persons concerned with‘ accessability, and had it heeded them, it would have , built the ramp differently. As it is now, the ramp at Memorial is too steep; the door, at the toprcannot be opened safely (if at all) from a wheelchair,

and the brick platform is not built at the sane

level as the doorsill. Bare '

concrete is very slippery: in winter and properly built ramp surfaces should have a noneslip surface. \ Efforts to rake UPEI accessable to everyone have not alsways been practical (to say nothing of efforts that have not been made, yet). As a result, there are three ramps at UPEI that are too steep: those outside Memorial and Dalton, and the one in the Student's lounge in the library. Disabled persons have not always been consulted when architectural plans were being made; and, when they were consulted, they were not ahways heeded. Does the administration not realize that the "disabled population" is the "market" which "consunes " such "products" as accessability ramps, and, therefore it is not good "business" when these "products" are not made

» so that they can be used

by disabled persons? (If I nay Speak the choice language that our "college nﬁnd " adnunistration seems to‘faVOr.) “““ Students, who are in ' wheelchairs, cannot take-37 part in any campus life outside of the classroom 1 Or library. (In fact, the classroom has-to be in the

‘library i add that to your'

‘"registration day blues!"

(’A little extra administratio

hassledlfor'disabled

'studentsl)

The SUN office_—n

'(gulp — and CIMN are'ﬂ: ‘ glaring acceSsability

problems. Disabled " ‘ students cannot get.

to professors offices in Main (or to Studentﬂ

‘. Services), not can they

get to the adnuniStration (safely_ih Kelley) t0._ protest;(aSSUnungfthey wished to assert their rights, according to PEI law) . V ‘ Like nost.students, despite some grumbles, I too, make a dash for the cafeteria — when the pain "sets in" — around 4:30 p.m. But if you

are in a wheelchair, you

are spared the "meatloaf"— 1

you go hungry — or home. What would the average

UPEI student.do if he

or she couldn't get to ‘

even one pub, all year?

You guessed it! While

your swilling the suds,

sone people are sitting

at home — not by

choice! ,It's the same

uaccessabilitv (to

-public-buildings.

‘in'istratibn Breaking the Law '2

story for events at the "

,gym, theatre, rink, orﬁ

any other part of the UPEI canpus, outside of the library. 4 ‘ The PEI Human Rights Act — the only law that ‘ takes precedence over all other laws on PEI, states in Part 1, section 2(a): "No person shall ' discriminate against any individual or class of ~ individuals with respect to enjoyment of aocomodat-

.ion, serviecs and facilities

to which members of the‘ public have access." And. in section (d) of the preamble, it states:

" 'discrimination' means discrimination in relation

‘to colour, race, religion,

marital status, sex, ethnic or national origin, age, physical disability or political belief..."

Also, Supplement 5 of the National Building Code has been adopted as law on Prince Edward Island. This law sets down basic standards for all persons in ludino disabled persons) to all

This National beeni

supplement to the Building Code has incorporated into Prince Edward Island law as the "Access to Public Buildings Act." VHowever, unlike the

“Bill of Rights, this act .only applies to buildings

constructed’or‘renovated

'since the act came into

force around 1980. One could ask the question , "Does the constructionv

of the planetarium amd ».zv do the renovations to Memorial fall under the jurisdiction of Supplenent 5 and, if so, do both

cases meet the specifications?" or "Do Main and Cass deny some people their basic human rights, as specified by Prince Edward Island law, according to the

Iuman Rights Act?"

A committee has been struck at UPEI to look into these questions of accessability. Next week the SUN plans to meet with representatives of this committee, who, we hope, will provide some answers concerning plans to make UPEI accessable to everyone. '

Perhaps the establishment of this cmnnittee reflects a growing concern, on the part of administration, with the problens that the disabled encounter on the UPEI campus.