FOCUS: Removing all obstacles

University resourcesUniversity resourcesallow students withUniversity resourcesallow students withdisabilities to experienceUniversity resourcesallow students withdisabilities to experienceall aspects of college life University resourcesallow students withdisabilities to experienceall aspects of college lifeAfter students receive an offer of admission from the University, they evaluate whether Penn will be a good match for them. This decision includes exploring such fundamentals as living arrangements, classroom accessibility and the layout of the campus. Feuerstein, who applied early decision to Penn, met with Nagle to discuss his Residential Living options, including rooms in the Quadrangle, Kings Court/English House and the high rises. "The office tries to the best of their ability to understand the needs of people with disabilities and to accommodate them accordingly," Feuerstein said. "They decided to renovate a room in English House for me and invited me to the architects' meeting." Two rooms on the first floor of the dormitory were converted into a wheelchair-accessible two-bedroom double with a bathroom. Feuerstein shared the room with a roommate during his freshman year. According to Nagle, in addition to this English House room, High Rise North contains two wheelchair-accessible rooms, Graduate Tower B has one room and Nichols House offers three fully accessible apartments. Appropriate adjustments to any room are made "on an individual basis by request," she added. The University's Guidelines for Addressing Academic Issues of Students with Disabilities lists methods of facilitating accommodations for individual students. These include allowing extra time, alternate formats or special equipment for exams, reproducing classroom materials in large print and moving classes to other locations if they are inaccessible to students registered for them. In addition, the Accessible Vehicle, a van equipped with a wheelchair lift, is available to transport members of the University community with mobility disabilities. But some complain that the University only has one van with limited hours of operation. "[The University] should try to work something out where if someone needs it on Sunday, they can get it," Feuerstein said. "I feel that if you're going to have it available on the weekdays, you should have it available on the weekends." The Office of Affirmative Action works closely with the counseling center, Student Health, Writing Across the University and other University services. The Tutoring and Learning Resource Center provides assistance with study skills and time management strategies as well. Many students must adjust to a teaching style and classroom setup geared towards those without physical or learning disabilities. College of General Studies junior Charlie Haitz's Attention Deficit Disorder was diagnosed only last July and since then, he has taken advantage of the services the University offers for students with learning disabilities. Haitz said that his main disability involves a hearing problem that causes him to mishear information or prevents retention of the information. He also has a general processing problem, which is "related under the broad category of a language disability," Haitz said. "Basically, I need more time to read and just to formulate my papers and my essays," he added. After taking courses part-time last semester, Haitz enrolled as a full-time student in January. "I've needed the accommodations -- such as extensions on papers, extended test time and alternate sites where my exam can be proctored," Haitz said. "One of the difficulties I have is I pick out a lot of background noise. Alternate sites are helpful since test situations are stressful anyway." Students with disabilities generally praise professors' compassion regarding their handicaps. Nicole Yuvienco, who graduated from Penn last May, said her satisfaction with the University's professors and facilities contributed to her decision to enroll in graduate school here. She will matriculate at the School of Social Work in the fall. "I'm just hoping that the professors in graduate school will be as understanding and sympathetic as they were in undergraduate," she said. "Part of the reason I chose to attend Penn again was that I know that the services are there." Yuvienco sustained a traumatic brain injury in October, 1992 after she was hit by a car. The injury caused a speech impairment and prevents her from taking notes in class. "The Office of Affirmative Action found someone to take notes for me, which was great, because I could just pay attention in class," she said. Feuerstein remembers one specific instance of a professor's sensitivity. During his freshman year, the location of his Economics class in Stiteler Hall posed accessibility challenges, so the administration moved the class to Meyerson Hall and then to Williams Hall. "People wondered why the class kept switching," Feuerstein said. "The professor, instead of singling me out, made up a story about not being able to move back into the room because of some rule in the department and not because of my disability. "It felt good to know that professors are considerate of my feelings," Feuerstein added. Outside the classroom, the Committee for an Accessible University and the Architectural Barrier Removal Prevention Subcommittee works to improve physical accessibility across campus. CAU meets three times a year and is composed of several students and department and school representatives throughout the University. "We talk about issues and problem-solving in terms of barrier removal, and monitor campus accessibility," Nagle said. "We look at major renovations and also small projects where it may be necessary to automate just one door to a building. "A current project, for example, is to install a wheelchair lift in Vance Hall," Nagle added. All new projects must meet the guidelines of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. Yuvienco works with the Office of Affirmative Action on both the CAU and the Architectural Barrier subcommittee. Current projects include the development of a map that outlines all accessible entrances, bathrooms and buildings at the University, Yuvienco said, adding that she is also working with the committee on a "master plan." "We want to make sure that everything at the University is up to ADA standards," Yuvienco added. Simpson benefits from the Office of Affirmative Action's readers' service provided for blind students. "The office does a great job of finding readers. The readers are invaluable, really, particularly for doing research," Simpson said. "There are just a lot of books which are not available in Braille, on tape, or in some type of accessible format." Despite the advantages of this service, however, Simpson has encountered its limitations. He noted that "one of the problems is that readers are generally paid $5 per hour. "We lose readers either to their workload or to a job that can get more buck to the hour," he explained. A need for more equipment has become a common concern among Penn students with disabilities. According to Simpson, more extensive equipment would urge more students with disabilities to come to the University. In addition, the University "could become more proactive in terms of advocacy for students with disabilities," Simpson said. "With more blind students on campus, the University would see the need for more equipment," Simpson added. "The equipment itself would be a recruiting tool to get more blind students on campus." Many said they wanted to be defined by their abilities and not by their disabilities. Socially, this wish translates into correcting misconceptions. "If you don't get information because you can't see it or hear it, people can make the mistake of equating that with intelligence," Simpson explained. "For example, blind has become a metaphor for being stupid -- 'being blind to the truth.' " A student group called Helping to Educate About All Kinds of Learning, or HEAL, provides a chance for students with learning disabilities to overcome a sense of isolation. "HEAL has offered me a place I could go to talk to people who have the same problems I have," Haitz said. "We try to approach learning disabilities in a different light, as more of a different style of learning, and not as a deficit." Despite physical limitations, Feuerstein says he refuses to "let my disability rule my life." "If I want to do something, I'm going to do it and no one's going to stand in my way of reaching that goal."