When Washington University opened the new East End of campus, it was hailed for its commitment to accessibility. The new buildings all had large, street level entrances, automatic doors not only for exterior doors but inside as well, and large centrally located elevators. However, for many disabled students, there remains much room for improvement on the rest of campus. 

Jayne Crouthamel, a sophomore with visual and physical disabilities, explained that while she is able to work with professors to get the accommodations she needs for classes, other aspects of college — such as navigating WashU’s vast campus — remain very challenging. Although shuttles are offered for disabled students who need them, the current system is often inadequate and unreliable. 

“I had a class in Steinberg [last spring], they dropped me off at the inaccessible entrance and I had to carry my bag up a bunch of stairs,” Crouthamel said. “When I told them there was an accessible entrance they said ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ and kept taking me to the same entrance.” 

Furthermore, many buildings lack elevators or require disabled students to take circuitous routes to their classrooms. Some, such as the Women’s Building, have no accessible entrances at all. 

“There’s always those few [buildings] where the elevator is tucked [in the] back, the accessible entrance is not super visible, or there are some where I’ve noticed a couple buildings where they’re accessible [only] when you get past a couple of steps,” Crouthamel explained. “I have a big roller backpack, I can do four steps, but I know there are some people who can’t even do four steps, so that makes that building completely inaccessible to them.”

A major problem for disabled students attempting to navigate campus is that the vast majority of buildings on campus predate the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act — known as the ADA — which mandates that new buildings meet certain standards to accommodate disabled people. Old buildings like the Women’s Building or Cupples I are allowed to remain partially or wholly inaccessible to disabled students because they predate the ADA. This loophole allows WashU’s campus to be considered fully ADA compliant, despite obvious problems with accessibility. “It always seems like [WashU says] ‘Oh it’s ADA compliant,’” Crouthamel said, “okay cool, we did the bare minimum.”

Crouthamel is a member of the disability-advocacy group Ability, which has been conducting their own evaluations of campus buildings. “We have this thing called CHECs,” Crouthamel explained, “we go around and look at the different buildings, we have a whole list, and we determine how accessible or inaccessible buildings are based off of that.” 

The reports consider features like proper signage, the condition of pathways and whether accessibility features are not only present but actually usable for disabled students. For example the report for Seigle Hall found that the elevator is too small for a student in a wheelchair to turn around, which would make operating the elevator a challenge. 

Another common problem is that ramps throughout campus tend to be designed in such a way that are ADA compliant, but not actually accessible for most disabled students. Crouthamel highlighted the ramp between Shepley Drive and BD as particularly problematic: “That ramp, I’ve gotten used to it, but when I was a freshman it definitely took a couple of months, I definitely tripped a few times.”

A similar issue arises for disabled students attempting to travel from the East End back to main campus. 

For students like senior Angela Gormley, who has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or POTS, the incline on the paths that flank Brookings Hall are too steep, which requires her to take an incredibly long and complicated detour. When standing up for long periods of time, she often will get light headed and sometimes can even pass out, which is why she often uses a wheelchair.

 “I have to go in through the bottom of Rudolph, take the elevator up, go out the back and into Crow, go through Crow, go into Lopata, go up a ramp that I’m not sure is legal, then take an elevator up one floor, take a ramp down into Cupples II, then go through Cupples II and take an elevator a floor, then go out of Cupples II,” Gormley said.  

This route adds twenty minutes to her route, just to get up the hill. With a wheelchair, even the pathways themselves can be an obstacle. Areas like Brookings quad are paved with uneven stone paths, which makes it a nightmare for her. 

“Brookings is all cobblestone, so it’s always a fun time,” Gormley said, “one time there was an outdoor class that was meeting at the time that I always had to go to class, so they’d be trying to have a conversation and my wheelchair would just be making the sound of luggage going on a bumpy path.” 

Gormley is able to drive to and from campus, but that presents its own difficulties. “Probably the biggest hurdle for me is parking,” she said, “WashU might have the right number of accessible parking spots, but the issue is that even if you have your state issued disabled parking placard, you still have to pay to park in accessible parking.” 

For someone who drives to campus often, those parking costs add up quickly. “It’s fifty dollars a week just to go to class with your mobility aid,” Gormley said. She also finds the shuttle service to be severely lacking: “It’s really hard to be told that your only option is this one shuttle that is shared between all the students on campus when they need it, and if you call it after someone else, you’re going to be late to class.”

Students have raised their concerns about campus accessibility with Disability Resources, but have found Disability Resources to be poorly equipped to deal with these types of problems. Students believe that this is in part due to a lack of staffing: During the pandemic, Disability Resources staff dwindled to just two full time employees. Dr. Chris Stone, the director of Disability Resources agreed that while the Disability Resources staff has grown to six employees and will be growing further soon, student concerns about staffing aren’t unfounded: 

“Is there potential that we would take more staff and we would utilize them effectively? Sure,” Stone said, “I’m not going to say that we don’t need the staff. But I don’t think it’s a critical thing.”

However, Stone explained that part of the issue is that Disability Resources isn’t actually responsible for fixing issues with parking or campus buildings. 

“The main purpose [of Disability Resources] is that we ensure the University is [legally] protected,” Stone said, “that’s not a negative thing, that’s not to say we aren’t student centered, but our role is to ensure the University is doing what it is required to do.” 

The issues raised by students are matters that should be handled by Parking or Facilities. However, these departments do not regularly interact with students the way Disability Resources does, making communication difficult. Furthermore, WashU has no legal obligation to fix these issues, since they don’t involve ADA compliance, and Stone explained that it is unlikely to see inaccessible spaces be addressed until the building in question is being torn down or renovated.

While Disability Resources is consulted on these projects, they do not have a say in what is prioritized. “We give feedback,” Stone said, “we have a chance to respond to [facilities projects], but we are not the driving force.”

But to students, this approach seems backwards. Gormley explained that oftentimes features intended to accommodate people with disabilities benefit a much broader array of people. “It’s called the ‘Curb-Cut Effect,’” she explained. Curb-cuts are the small ramps on sidewalks that lower the curb to street level at crosswalks, a feature that was originally developed to aid people with disabilities. However, a far broader array of people benefit from curb-cuts: “People who have strollers, people who are biking, people who are carrying something heavy,” Gormley said, “now, everyone ends up appreciating it.”