Interior design senior Leslie Gambino recently saw campus through new eyes.
Navigating hubs of campus activity like the third-floor stacks of Middleton Library is usually easy for her, but she had more difficulty when she was confined to a wheelchair.
Gambino’s journey through campus from the perspective of a disabled student is part of “Interior Design at LSU: A Universal Design Experience,” a project created by the Interior Design Student Organization meant to enhance students’ awareness of handicapped accessibility when designing buildings.
Through the program, able-bodied participants partner to complete various tasks in a wheelchair around campus while taking pictures at each location.
Allison Canal, interior design senior and IDSO president said the organization thought the project would be an excellent way for interior design students to understand accessibility codes for those who are disabled and to address disadvantages those individuals experience on a daily basis.
Rachel Birch, interior design junior, said traveling around Lockett Hall in a wheelchair was most challenging.
She said it was difficult to open the door, and there was no handicapped stall in the bathroom. After discovering this, she tried to exit the bathroom, but the room was so narrow she could barely turn around.
Birch’s partner, interior design junior Gennifer Williams, said going down ramps was difficult because it hurt her hands as she tried to control the wheelchair.
But physical strain was not the only challenge of the experience.
“[It was difficult] emotionally. Everyone was staring at me,” Gambino said. “It almost makes you feel a little