Imagine this: class is beginning in five minutes on the first day of the semester.  With a deep breath, you enter the Administration building on campus, and realize that this class is on the third floor.  There are so many stairs, and you usually would have no problem, except that you recently broke your ankle playing football.  So now this usually thirty-second journey is turning into a four-minute one.  Being late to class is inevitable.  The only consolation is that the broken ankle will not be broken forever.

  
Things like accessibility tend to not worry most individuals.  The majority of people are given the abilities and resources to overcome basic obstacles like stairs and heavy doors.  To them, devices like elevators are a luxury, not a necessity.  For those with disabilities, like me, we have to learn to adapt to the obstacles around us.  The problem is that it sounds easier than it really is.

  
Manchester College is situated on a great campus and has some pretty excellent facilities, which brings me to my next point.  Buildings like the Science Center are not only new and modern, but they contain the amenities in which to move about, no matter if a person is able-bodied or not.  The beauty of this building is that since it is new, the process to make it accessible is easier.  However, even newer buildings have their problems.  For some time, Oakwood and Helman halls were accessible in terms of elevator access.  But for someone like myself who needs the ability to maneuver either a scooter or walker in and out of buildings without assistance, short of taking a person along with me to hold a door, these halls needed automatic doors.  I was more than overjoyed when they were installed. 

  
What I cannot seem to understand is that the older buildings on campus are not as “up to code” as they could be.  When I say “up to code” I am referring explicitly to the Americans with Disabilities Act.  This federal act, passed in 1990, gives disabled individuals a voice in issues of accessibility, housing, public transportation and so on.  It essentially strives to give the disabled an equal field in which to live and work.  The ADA states that [there are] “guidelines for accessibility to places of public accommodation and commercial facilities by individuals with disabilities,” when looking at aspects of making buildings equally usable for all.  

  
Take for example the Administration building on campus.  There are so many stairs, and even to get to the main level, climbing is necessary.  Since the building is so old, and altering it to the point of putting in an elevator would demolish its structure, the ADA states that such alterations are not feasible or needed.  I realize this, and have been told so before on campus.  The problem lies in the idea that even if such a major alteration is impossible, the Americans with Disabilities Act says that such buildings have exceptions:  “In alteration work, if compliance is technically infeasible, the alteration shall provide accessibility to the maximum extent feasible.” That is a great point, but I see no such things as ramps from the ground outside to the main entrances or from the entrances to the main level.  Perhaps that will be something to look into. 

  
Now I do not want to use this as a means to pick on anyone or anything, but just to bring about awareness.  The main problem I have is that the Administration building is used by so many people and is a mainstay of the college, yet there are no ramps, nor are there doors that can be easily opened, and this sort of maintenance is simpler than tearing the building down to add an elevator.  I have taken issue with the need for alterations in some of the buildings here, as well, especially in terms of not having a choice. I happened to stay in Schwalm Hall this past summer during my employment, as this is where all summer employees are lodged.  The problem was not that I could not climb stairs within the building, and accessing the back entrances was a major chore.  I would have just liked to have had some banisters to hold on to, that is all. 

  
I feel that Manchester College is moving in a progressive direction in making the campus accessible, but there are still some hurdles to jump over.  For the most part, just a few small changes here and there would greatly help.  I look forward to the day when people of any physical ability can visit and enjoy the many buildings of Manchester College, both new and old.  I hope that that day is sooner, rather than later.

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