Students with any disabilities, including physical and mental, currently make up 1,270 of the nearly 34,000 students enrolled at NC State. Accounting for the needs of every student with their unique disability is a job that requires the input and cooperation of numerous individuals and offices on campus.

In the first installment of this series on accessibility, disability was characterized as a multifaceted issue composed of visible and invisible disabilities, as well as physical and mental disabilities, all of which require equally multifaceted solutions and accommodations. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed by Congress, guaranteeing equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, telecommunications and state and local government services. For NC State students, faculty and staff with disabilities, the ADA protects against discrimination and harassment, and the law applies to all members of the university.

Given an average day, 50,000 people will be on NC State’s campus, according to Senior Director of Facilities Services Andy Snead. When disabled students, faculty and staff on campus must confront challenges in maneuvering within buildings and or in maintaining equitable treatment and opportunity — all categorized under the ADA — they depend on a series of responsible organizations and their cooperation.

Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED)

Linda McCabe Smith, vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, is the current campus ADA coordinator. As such, McCabe Smith is responsible for ensuring that all parts of the university comply with ADA regulations and educating others about the ADA’s requirements.

“There are some things that are required by law, but we’re also interested in doing the right thing,” Smith said. “We’re interested in creating an environment where individuals with disabilities or abilities are welcome to our campus.”

The OIED must address concerns from students, faculty and staff as they are brought up, sometimes using different solutions to accommodate the needs of various people with the same disability, as in the Disabilities Services Office.

Each complaint filed under the ADA undergoes preliminary review to determine whether or not disability-based discrimination has occurred, according to Robinette Kelley, associate vice provost for equal opportunity and equity. Should OIED find that a reported case of discrimination is valid, a formal investigation will be conducted. Reports of discrimination can come from unequitable treatment, unwelcome disclosure of one’s disability or derogatory language toward a student with disabilities. However, Kelley said, any filed ADA complaint form will be reviewed by OIED. 

“I think what’s really important, and that is successful here at NC State, is the collaboration among the units,” Smith said. “Once we have been put on notice that there’s a need, we communicate; we bounce things off each other to make sure that things happen. Everyone has their own levels of responsibility.”

Housing

The role of University Housing in the lives of students with disabilities has recently become especially relevant, given the new requirement that all incoming first-year students live on campus. According to Chris Dobek, associate director of University Housing, students with disabilities are included in the freshman live-on requirement, but for students who feel that they cannot live on campus with their disability (or disabilities), there is an appeal process with an online form that students can fill out on University Housing’s website.

“Physically, we’ve made significant changes to the halls over the last five to seven years,” Dobek said. “Not every hall is, as you know, accessible — we’re working to get to that point — but we have renovated bedrooms; we have renovated suites; we’ve renovated door casings; we’ve added door openers on doors as requests come in from our students, either directed to our office or through Disability Services.”

In order to receive adequate disability housing accommodation on campus, students must register with the Disability Services Office, as well as fill out the American Disabilities Act section on the housing application, which allows them to clearly state the accommodations they need. Once accepted, Dobek said that Housing has a practice of giving all students with disabilities a campus tour, to allow them the opportunity to decide what works best for them. 

According to Dobek, students are allowed to keep service and emotional support animals on campus, as well as personal care attendants. There are also students that are paraplegic, quadriplegic and in wheelchairs living throughout University Housing. Information about how many students with physical disabilities currently live in residence halls is private; however, Dobek said, it is “less than 10.”

For students with disabilities who need accommodation during orientation, Dobek said that students have the option of requesting a first floor accommodation that is ADA approved when filling out the registration forms for orientation. Students who have a temporary disability that impairs their mobility, such as a broken limb, are encouraged to register with the Disability Services Office.

“Students also register with Disability Services for a temporary disability, and then sometimes they do approach us to change their assignment,” Dobek said. “…if a student has a broken leg and they live on the fourth floor of Alexander, without an elevator … depending on our occupancy, we may be able to temporarily reassign that student to a building with an elevator, or a first floor assignment.”

When asked about collaboration with other offices on campus, Dobek said that University Housing works primarily with the DSO to accommodate students, although they have good relationships with the OIED ADA coordinator and the facilities department.

“I have a relationship with the OIED ADA coordinator, but our concern here is the physical nature and the providing of housing here, and to make sure the housing we provide meets their needs,” Dobek said. “So we liaise primarily through disability services.”

Facilities Services

As part of additional civil rights protections, Titles II and III of the original ADA included building provisions, stating that all buildings constructed after 1992 would be required to have equitable access for users with disabilities. Regardless of accessibility in recent structures, such as Hunt Library or Talley Student Union, much of campus was built prior to 1992 and is therefore not required by law to be made accessible. While not liable under the ADA for buildings constructed before 1992, Facilities Services holds itself responsible for ensuring that plans are implemented to remove barriers to accessibility in older buildings and enhancing general campus accessibility simultaneously.

As a department within the Division of Facilities and Services, Facilities Services is responsible for all on-campus renovations, particularly in establishing a 10-year master plan, a priority list of the division’s projects, according to Andy Snead, senior director of Facilities Services.

“[The master plan] is the development and approach of what we do in the built environment,” Snead said. “That includes future developments and renovations. One of the guiding principles of that is the principle of universal design.”

The seven principles of universal design were originally established by Ronald L. Mace at NC State in 1997. They are intended to provide equitable, flexible and intuitive use of buildings, products and interfaces.

Swati Bhatt, a senior majoring in design studies, believes that NC State has yet to fully realize the universal design principles that it established. Bhatt is one of nine registered students on campus who utilizes a wheelchair or mobility scooter, according to the DSO’s database. For her design capstone project, Bhatt studied the implementation of universal design in Sweden, Norway and Scotland amongst locations on NC State’s campus, stressing a need for inclusivity from accessibility.

“Every design decision has the potential to include or exclude users,” said Bhatt. “People often believe that providing the disabled with signage or a ramp is satisfactory and practices the ideals of universal design. What we must understand is that universal design is about providing these necessary facilities to the disabled without separating them from the norm of society.”

For Snead, achieving perfect campus accessibility for every disability with the latest accessibility features is currently impossible as improvements continue to occur in accessible design.

“[Perfect accessibility] is a moving target,” said Snead. “Technology changes everything… now we have card access. There were things that we considered accessible 15 years ago that we are now changing out, so I don’t know that I’ll ever say that we’re going to fully arrive. I think that it’s better to be proactive.”

Feedback and complaint forms concerning accessibility are available through DSO, Housing, Facilities Services and the OIED.