Blog
October 15th 2009 | 1
Oh, the irony of an inaccessible Disability Resource Centre
In my previous blog posting, I went off on a couple tangents about how great I think the university is. And don’t get me wrong – it is. But in writing the article on the DRC this week http://uniter.ca/view/1614/, I realized that the U has some major areas in which it falls quite short of acceptable. Take accessibility for instance…
I encourage students to take a jaunt down to the DRC, which is located on the mezzanine level of Graham Hall near the student housing office, and see for yourselves the crunch students who use the centre are in. According to Andrea Johnston, Coordinator for the DRC, the number of students who utilize the centre is in the hundreds. Granted they are not all jammed in there at once, it still makes me feel slightly claustrophobic to imagine a mere 20 people in that teeny space. And let’s face it, wheel chairs, scooters and other equipment can take up a lot of space.
Not only is the space waaaay to small, as Jesse Turner, member of the Disability Student Advisory Group explained, it is inaccessible. Okay, I am sorry but how ironic is that? The Disability Resource Centre, the one place on campus entirely dedicated to students with disabilities, is the toughest place on campus to get to.
Fair enough, the entire university is in a space crunch – some professors are without offices, students are having to sit on the floor in classrooms, and it is damn near impossible to find a quiet, unoccupied space to study at the U or a table to have lunch at in the cafeteria. But come on U of W, there has got to be a way to fix this – and fast!
With the help of U of W students, the letter writing campaign to get the DRC moved can be a success. So click on the link http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8657573255 to access the Disability Student Advisory Group Facebook page and find out what you can do to help these deserving (and unbelievable patient) students get a space that properly meets their needs!
Discussion
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Right on, Courtney. I spoke with Jesse today. She said the U of W did an accessibility audit but refused to divulge it with her.
Freedom of information request?
– Samuel Swanson in Winnipeg | October 15th 2009 at 11:10pm | Link
