Accessibility at emory
Roughly a little more than a decade ago, Emory University was given an ultimatum: A student’s lengthy legal struggle with the university regarding the accessibility of Clairmont campus compelled them to become accessible within ten years (Mendola). Seeing that I, a student at Emory, am taking a class that analyzes disability in America, and it has been ten years since the ruling that Emory was to become accessible, it only make sense for me to examine Emory University’s accessibility through personal observation and from what I have learned in this class. I’m going to do this through the evaluation of Harris Hall’s main entrances. It's location is viewable on our class's custom google map.
Emory, obviously, was not originally built to be accessible to everybody. This isn’t entirely their fault, as the geographical/architectural discrimination against people with disabilities was pretty much rampant until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Any and all changes that they made to improve access to people were retroactive, which honestly makes it hard for the campus to achieve a universally accessible design as outlined by Ronald L. Mace. There are seven main principles of universal design, but the important concept is that our geography should be crafted so that any person, regardless of their condition, can easily make use of their environment as well as everybody else (Mace).
Harris Hall, like every other building at Emory University, has accessibility access that was integrated retrospectively. Its entrances are demonstrative of this fact. If you are approaching the building from Clifton Road, there is a pair of lightweight double doors that lead to a small alcove with a second set of doors. To the right is a small set of stairs, and to the left is a handicapped ramp. The ramp, intended for wheelchair users and those whom are unable to climb stairs, is quite steep, and is wooden. In fact, it is also detachable, because as of right now it’s not currently there.
If you are unable to use stairs and are approaching from Clifton Road, worry not, for there is another way to get in. Once you approach the side door there is a quality handicapped ramp leading to the door, next to the small downward sloping staircase. Unfortunately that ramp’s existence is a cruel joke, because there are only stairs leading to the side entrance from Clifton Road and from the main campus, so the only purpose the handicapped ramp serves is to allow people to enjoy sitting on the patio, because there is nowhere else one can go if they can’t use stairs.
Emory, obviously, was not originally built to be accessible to everybody. This isn’t entirely their fault, as the geographical/architectural discrimination against people with disabilities was pretty much rampant until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Any and all changes that they made to improve access to people were retroactive, which honestly makes it hard for the campus to achieve a universally accessible design as outlined by Ronald L. Mace. There are seven main principles of universal design, but the important concept is that our geography should be crafted so that any person, regardless of their condition, can easily make use of their environment as well as everybody else (Mace).
Harris Hall, like every other building at Emory University, has accessibility access that was integrated retrospectively. Its entrances are demonstrative of this fact. If you are approaching the building from Clifton Road, there is a pair of lightweight double doors that lead to a small alcove with a second set of doors. To the right is a small set of stairs, and to the left is a handicapped ramp. The ramp, intended for wheelchair users and those whom are unable to climb stairs, is quite steep, and is wooden. In fact, it is also detachable, because as of right now it’s not currently there.
If you are unable to use stairs and are approaching from Clifton Road, worry not, for there is another way to get in. Once you approach the side door there is a quality handicapped ramp leading to the door, next to the small downward sloping staircase. Unfortunately that ramp’s existence is a cruel joke, because there are only stairs leading to the side entrance from Clifton Road and from the main campus, so the only purpose the handicapped ramp serves is to allow people to enjoy sitting on the patio, because there is nowhere else one can go if they can’t use stairs.
For most students and residents of Harris, the first entrance you encounter traveling from the main campus is the ground floor entrance. This is the most accessible of all three entrances, but still is lacking. There is no curb, which is optimal for those with chairs or abnormal gaits, and no slopes/stairs leading towards the door. However, this door, along with the other two, doesn’t have automatic opening buttons, which can pose a problem because the doors are relatively heavy. Another interesting thing I’ve found is that there is a bus stop commonly used by students that live off campus near Clifton Road, and if one is approaching from the main parts of campus (the quad for example) the fastest route is to walk between Harris Hall and Complex (an upperclassmen housing complex). However, this route is just stairs. If you were unable to use stairs, and were not able to access Harris to use its elevators, you would have to circumnavigate the entirety of Complex.
A solution that come to mind that would benefit anybody that traverses this area of campus would be to install a ramp that leads from the ground floor of Harris to Clifton Road. For students that live in/frequent Harris Hall, automatic door opener buttons would be very helpful, as well as the replacement of the ramp that allows access from the Clifton Road entrance.
Examples like Harris Hall can be found all over campus, and it just goes to show that although Emory University took steps to accommodate those with disabilities, it is still far from perfect. For any inhabited environment to be perfect, or universally designed to accommodate everybody regardless of condition, it must be built from the ground up with that idea in mind, because it’s far to easy to exclude people while modeling the environment after the paradigm of a strong, healthy, able-bodied person. However, this doesn’t mean that Emory, or any other place is a lost cause. There are always more ways to provide an accessible environment, but the question is: Will these places seek to solve these inaccessibility problems preemptively or wait until people force them to after failing to traverse the inaccessible world they live in?
A solution that come to mind that would benefit anybody that traverses this area of campus would be to install a ramp that leads from the ground floor of Harris to Clifton Road. For students that live in/frequent Harris Hall, automatic door opener buttons would be very helpful, as well as the replacement of the ramp that allows access from the Clifton Road entrance.
Examples like Harris Hall can be found all over campus, and it just goes to show that although Emory University took steps to accommodate those with disabilities, it is still far from perfect. For any inhabited environment to be perfect, or universally designed to accommodate everybody regardless of condition, it must be built from the ground up with that idea in mind, because it’s far to easy to exclude people while modeling the environment after the paradigm of a strong, healthy, able-bodied person. However, this doesn’t mean that Emory, or any other place is a lost cause. There are always more ways to provide an accessible environment, but the question is: Will these places seek to solve these inaccessibility problems preemptively or wait until people force them to after failing to traverse the inaccessible world they live in?