Simple changes could improve accessibility
By Wanda Kember
IV Leader Staff, Nov 9, 2006
To go through life never seeing things from someone else’s
point of view can lead to poor judgment, insensitivity and a general lack of
respect for your fellow man/woman.
Most people see life from a single perspective, never taking
the time or energy to see it from a different point of view, unless they are
forced to.
That is what happened to me. Even though I was a very
open-minded person and always tried to treat others with compassion, I defiantly
had my eyes opened when I could no longer walk.
We are told we live in an accessible society, but we really
don’t. Look at IVCC. Have you ever thought about what it would be like if you
were disabled and had to get around campus?
Although some great changes have been made in the past few
years, there is still much that can be done. The new parking spaces and ramped
door at the end of the Cultural Center are wonderful, but once inside, it’s not
easy to get up the steep ramps.
The connected third floor eases the transition from class to
class until you run into someone going the opposite direction. (I would like to
take a moment to apologize to all those I have ran into with my wheelchair.)
Even the restrooms have accessibility inconsistencies, such as the coat hook
attached to the top of the door in the handicapped stall, the mirror in the
lower level bathroom is placed high, as are the paper towel dispensers.
Simple adjustments that could be made are not because only
the disabled notice them. Since I am talking about the bathroom, why is it that
every stall can be open, but the one many people choose to use is the only one I
can fit in?
That is what I mean; if you took the time to look at life
from someone else’s perspective you would never take that stall.
I was not always paralyzed and I never thought I would spend
the rest of my life in a wheelchair, but that is my reality and who is to say it
might not be yours.
So here’s a thought: Imagine yourself in someone else’s
shoes, or wheels, as the case may be, and then see how radically your life would
change.
So if you see something that needs to be changed, then fix it
or bring it up to someone who can. Compassion and change have to start
somewhere, why not make it with yourself?