LOGAN?Plans are underway to improve the services and accessibility of Utah State University to students with disabilities through a new training program for faculty and an updated campus survey of buildings.
“Overall, this place is pretty good,” said Annie Robison, an undeclared sophomore who uses a wheelchair.
With constantly changing legislation since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed about 10 years ago, USU has tried to stay abreast of legal requirements while still meeting the needs of students in providing equal education opportunities to all as part of its institutional responsibility.
“USU is quite accessible, but it’s not perfect by any means,” said Diane Craig Hardman, the director of the Disability Resource Center. “We do quite well. We have a good reputation in providing services and accommodations.”
A new training program for faculty is being created, Hardman said. They hope it will become mandatory. Two workshops will begin next week, and they plan to have everything ready by February.
With renovations and new building projects, accessibility continues to get better, Hardman said. The Old Main renovation, getting rid of the Merrill Library and plans for the Engineering Laboratory Building have and could solve a lot of problems, she said.
The Geology Building is particularly bad, Robison said. The only elevators in the building are for freight, not wheelchairs.
Also, there need to be automatic doors on the Ellen Eccles Auditorium, Robison said. With the public attending various events there, “you’d think there would be,” she said.
The university has always attempted to meet the code requirements for accessibility, but Hardman said they often go beyond code in their efforts.
“It’s hard to get really good accessibility just with code,” Hardman said. “We’ve tried to set a standard higher than code.”
Hardman said one area still lacking is the automatic doors. They would like to have automatic doors on everything, but code doesn’t require that at all.
The little things make a big difference, Robison said.
“But as long as the big things work, you can get around the little things,” she said.
The law doesn’t require 100 percent architectural accessibility, Hardman said. Programs must be accessible, but all buildings are not.