Accessibility on Campus Sucks

Imagine you are locked out of a building and cannot get inside because the key never fits in the lock.

That is how I feel being one of the only wheelchair users at Drew. 

This article is about parts of the campus that claim to be accessible even though they really are not. In this article, I am going to focus on the three buildings that I mainly go to as a first-semester freshman. Those three buildings are Brothers College, Seminary Hall, and the library.

Before I go into more detail, I just want to make a disclaimer—I’m not stupid. I knew that going to an older school in the middle of the woods was going to be challenging for me sometimes, but that is not the point of this piece of writing. The point of this opinion piece is to say that, from my point of view as a person with a disability, when something is meant to be accessible it should be properly functional. The point of me writing this for The Acorn is to help bring awareness to the issues so that they might be noticed and fixed soon.

With that being said, here is a list of the problems I have with Drew’s campus and why I think they should be addressed.

Brothers College

In Brothers College, there is a button outside the door which is supposed to make it open automatically. The problem with this is that the button doesn’t work. This is probably because the door’s automatic system has to be battery-powered and doesn’t seem to get charged enough. It also does not help that the button is placed on the left side of the door and I am right-handed. Ultimately, the door loudly slams shut and other people have to open it for me. 

Seminary Hall

Oh Seminary Oh Seminary, how I hate the door to Seminary.

What can I say about my time spent at Seminary Hall? Six words: love the classes, hate the building. 

Two of my English classes were moved to Seminary Hall at the beginning of the semester. However, if the reason for the location is because of accessibility, I just have to say that someone completely missed the mark on that. Do you want to know why?

There are four reasons that I can think of off the top of my head.

1. The “automatic door” button to open the door from outside did not work for a month 
2. The button to open the door inside the building *still* does not work
3. The elevator in Seminary is really small and really slow
4. In the bathroom, the handicap stall is way too small (excuse the accidental rhyme, but seriously, it is really hard to fit a wheelchair in that space) 

Last on my list of difficulties with Drew University (for now) is…

The Library

I think the library is honestly the worst of them all.

Not only do both doors in the library open simultaneously, they also open for a maximum of literally two seconds before they start to close again. A few weeks ago, I got stuck in the middle of the doorway on my way out of the library when the door closed halfway and banged into my wheelchair. Once again, I had to wait for someone to open the door the whole way so I could leave. 

Why is there a whole article about accessibility? Why should I care about that? That is what you might be thinking as you read this, and I am going to tell you.

Why? Because accessibility does not just affect me. 

I am sure there have been, and there will continue to be injured student-athletes at Drew, and if they need to use a wheelchair or crutches then they will need campus to be accessible.

Why? Because the people who work with school facilities should know that some people care about the accessibility at Drew.

*Side Note from the Author: This article was almost titled “Doors That Barely Function” due to the recurring theme of doors*

Emma Joyce is a first-year majoring in English.