HALLWAY SCULPTURES HINDER DISABLED-STUDENT ACCESS BY APRIL DIERKING

HALLWAY SCULPTURES HINDER DISABLED-STUDENT ACCESS BY APRIL DIERKING - First published in The Metropolitan on March 27, 1992

The Auraria Campus, for the most part, is accessible to disabled students, according to the manager of the AHEC Office of Disability Services.

Melanie Tem said that accessibility to Auraria buildings isn't too bad. She sees a problem with art sculpture in the Arts building corridors, not with door and ramp accessibility.

A number of students have expressed concerns over some of the art sculpture, saying that they block the hallway so that students in wheelchairs can't get around the sculpture.

Tem said that she's afraid that if blind students wanted to walk along the corridor wall, they couldn't because some sculptures are blocking the pathway.

She also had a concern over a sculpture that is no longer being displayed, and in which one student wrote a concern to a display calling itself "Dangerous Art."

The display was made up of broken glass and loose coins. Some sharp edges of glass stuck out and the student was concerned that a blind student night be in danger of getting hurt.

"For the most part, accessibility is pretty good," said Bret Hardesty, a senior majoring in broadcast communications, quadriplegic since birth.

Hardesty said that he uses the campus mini-van and that students and professors are willing to help, but adds that he's pretty self-reliant.

Hardesty and Tem agree that possibly the inaccessible buildings on campus are on Ninth Street. Although Hardesty has never had to use any service offered on Ninth Street, he said he could just imagine having a hard time entering on the the buildings.

Tem said that it's "not going to be enough to say that the buildings are historic and leave it like that." She said she hopes that in the future something can be done to make the historic buildings accessible to disabled students without compromising the historic value of the buildings.

The American with Disabilities Act, which went into effect Jan. 26, will help in the future development of disabled accessibility to newly constructed buildings, not only in higher education buildings, but in all public buildings, such as restaurants.

MSCD Disability Services, located in Arts 177, helps students in four major areas: academics, which include recorded text books, books with Braille and other learning tools; personal counseling for students; advocacy, including negotiating any problems that students might have with other students or faculty; and education in-services for the academic department.