Sociology senior Tommy Mead has taken many tests throughout his college career, but not many can compare to the difficulty of his everyday test: getting around campus.
Mead is one of many students with disabilities who must search for handicap entrances, maneuver into narrow bathroom stalls and have classes moved to more accessible buildings because certain buildings on campus aren’t up to current Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.
One day, Mead tipped his wheelchair off a ramp at Prescott Hall and hit his head because the ramp wasn’t compliant with the ADA guidelines.
The ADA was passed by Congress in 1990 as a way “to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities,” according to the original document. Since then, guidelines were updated in 2010.
Only buildings built after 1990 are subject to ADA building standards, and not all structures built before 1990 have been brought up to code because of a lack of funding from the state. However, ADA provides the University leeway to give students with disabilities the option to move classes to accessible rooms, also known as program access, said Benjamin Cornwell, director of Disability Services.
On campus, only a few academic buildings have been brought up to the current code, said Facility Services Administration Manager Tammy Millican.
LSU Campus Accessibility
But for the University, there may be no incentive to ensure these older buildings are up to code.
Former Director of Facility Services and current Tiger Athletic Foundation Project Manager Emmett David said it is difficult to renovate an older building because up to five other codes in addition to ADA govern different aspects of building management like electricity, plumbing or access. Because of this, it is easier to build a new structure to code than to update an older building, David said.
Jacob Irving, political communication sophomore, rides a Segway to and from classes. Irving has cerebral palsy, which makes walking a difficult, slow and painful task.
Due to Irving’s disability, he has the opportunity to participate in Disability Services’ program access.
However, Irving said he opted out of program access because “the cons outweigh the pros.”
Irving said program access confused him, and he would rather “suck it up” than move classrooms.
“I guess if I really was a go-getter, I could have asked, but at the end of the day, I had classes with my friends, and they said, ‘Hey man, if there’s anything you need, we can help you out,’” Irving said.
So he leaves his Segway the closest he can get to a classroom and walks the rest of the way.
Even if a building has a ramp entrance, Irving said he sometimes gets nervous because it doesn’t have the current ADA code incline.
While Irving has avoided injury, others like Mead have faced problems with certain campus buildings like Prescott.
Because of Mead’s problems with Prescott, he asked Disability Services to change the location of the class. His class now meets in Coates Hall.
“I know which [buildings] I like and which ones I don’t,” Mead said. “In case there’s a building I’m unfamiliar with, I come in a week before to check the building out.”
He looks for entrances, elevators and bathrooms. Sometimes a handicap sign doesn’t mean handicap accessibility, especially with bathrooms.
He can’t use the bathroom in Lockett Hall because there’s not enough turning space to enter stalls.
“Just because it has a handicap sign doesn’t mean it’s handicap accessible,” he said. “I’ve gone on every floor in there, and there’s not enough room for anybody in a wheelchair.”
Mead said handicap parking is sometimes useless as well.
“You go to the [Athletic Administration Building], and they have handicap parking, and you get there, but there’s no ramp [near handicapped parking spots]. You have to go around,” he said with frustration. “What the hell’s the point?”
Funding to update building-accessibility may take “a year or two or 20,” Millican said in an email, depending on when state funding becomes available.
“Currently, Atkinson Hall, [Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex] — west wing, Prescott Hall and Taylor Hall are on the Capital Outlay bill, but we have no idea of when each one will actually receive funding,” Millican said in an email. “It depends on available funding and legislative action.”
The Music and Dramatic Arts Building was in the process of receiving state funding for 20 years, said Ken Courtade, manager of campus planning.
The University also tries to raise these funds directly.
The facility access fee on the student fee bill can contribute $80,000 to help ease ADA compliancy but would not cover bringing a building up to code, Cornwell said. Students pay $3.50 every spring semester fee bill, he said.
“It may sound like a lot, but it doesn’t go very far,” Cornwell said. “We try to do what we can, but it can be a real challenge.”
Even bringing small issues up to ADA-compliancy can cost the University a large sum of money.
Five or six bathroom renovations can cost $150,000, and replacing a curb cut can cost $5,000 to $10,000, Cornwell said.
Cornwell said those updates are chosen based on consistent problems he hears from students. The problems can be fixed with excess money, saving the facility access fee for a few years or having the state match the fund.
Courtade said the U.S. Department of Justice is responsible for enforcing codes from ADA to the fire marshall.
When the University is cited by people with disabilities, the Department of Justice will inspect the claims.
The University’s last citation involved parking at South Stadium Parking Lot. The citation said it was not accessible for people with disabilities to move from their parked cars to Tiger Stadium. Since then, Facility Services provided more parking spaces and an accessible pathway, Courtade said.
If the University fails to fix the violations, it is “subject to a fine or penalty by the Department of Justice,” Courtade said.
“Everyone in general responds to them as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s not something the University would take lightly.”
Despite the University’s efforts, Mead is not optimistic the problems will be solved any time soon.
“There’s only so much Ben [Cornwell] can do,” Mead said about fixing accessibility problems. “I doubt they’ll ever change the way it’s set up until someone gets hurt very bad.”
