AASU should remember to budget for disability

Here's a scenario:

It is the last day of classes, and you have an exam. You are running late, and the only parking is out in the nowhere end of the Arts Drive parking lot. There is an open space to your right.

It is a handicapped spot.

Do you take it?

The fine for parking in a handicapped space is $45. That's about three times the cost of the average parking violation. Is that exam grade worth $45?

There certainly are enough chances over the course of a school year for the average student to justify atrociously inconsiderate behavior. Whether a student walks away after freezing a computer in the library or edges into the line at the coffee shop, it should be clear that this behavior is unacceptable.

So it should be a no-brainer. The parking space should be left alone; it could inconvenience the rightful occupant.

If it's polite for students to acknowledge the rightful occupant of a handicapped spot in the parking lot, shouldn't the administration show its consideration for these students?

It might be polite to do so, but it also happens to be both policy and law – you have to provide for physically disabled students.

Period.

Most of the buildings on campus have been outfitted with elevators. With the exception of Gamble Hall, all of the older buildings have been renovated so that they have elevators. Gamble Hall, home of AASU's Languages, Literature and Philosophy department, has no elevator and, with the university's current operating budget, possesses only a questionable chance of getting one anytime soon.

Courses scheduled for the classrooms on the second floor of Gamble Hall must be moved in order to accommodate students with handicaps. While this might seem simple enough, the registration process does not identify students with handicaps when they register for classes. If a class needs to switch locations, it often isn't obvious until after the courses begin.

This isn't done simply out of consideration. In order to be in line with current laws, these classrooms must be changed. AASU's disability services website even lists the federal legislation that affects policy.

Changing classrooms is the only way that the building complies with the legal allowances that must be made for disabled students.

There has been discussion in the LLP department of even paying for an exterior elevator if the university doesn't renovate Gamble Hall. Naturally, the amount of money needed to tackle this problem is substantial, but so is the weight of non-compliance.

It is bad enough that LLP has to dodge around the law without considering that the entire building sorely needs a major overhaul.

Length between classes is another issue for these students. The way classes are broken up now, 15 minutes might not be long enough for a student on crutches to cross the campus to his or her next class.

This might prove especially difficult for students still tackling their core curriculum. The buildings can conceivably be located further away from one another more often. Criss-crossing the campus once every hour is hardly a way to mend a leg – since the students with disabilities include people who are recuperating after injury.

If it seems like this matter only concerns a small portion of the student body, consider that not all handicaps are permanent.

A person who sprains an ankle or breaks a leg also requires the same consideration as someone whose disability is long-term. The stairs, parking lots and time between classes are all obstacles to these students as well. They are a trifecta of disaster for someone who is not used to the obstacles that students with handicapped generally face.

Often enough, students with long-term handicaps have a means of getting to school beyond their own cars. The issue of the parking spaces affects those with short-term disabilities – students who usually take their own cars to school – more than those who regularly have another means of transportation.

The person who steals the handicapped parking space might one day need it.

There are seven handicapped spots in the parking lot on Arts Drive. With our current student population and the number of injuries bound to rise with the sports seasons heating up, the likelihood that these spots will get regularly snatched up will grow.

The handicapped spots don't seem like they would be an issue until they are gone. It wouldn't be very pleasant to hobble all the way to class from a parking spot that's practically in Bryan County.

The administration has to realize that between the parking situation and Gamble Hall, the school really doesn't have enough amenities for physically disabled students. While it is unlikely that the university will change the span between classes, it can do something about the other two issues.

A bit of consideration between people goes a long way.

The university needs to learn this lesson to avoid repeating the same mistake the hypothetical rushed student is confronted with. AASU needs to remember to leave the handicapped parking open.