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Strides for Metro's disabled
Metro Access Center provides many services to impaired students
By Birgit Moran
moranb@mscd.edu

Photo by Heather A. Longway/longway@mscd.edu Marlon Anderson, a CCD student, uses the Dragon program June 15 in the Adoptive Tech Lab at the metro Access Center with the help of Keith Valdez, an adaptive technology specialist. The Dragon program offers voice-activated computer control. It helps users surf the Web, write memos and send e-mails.

Charles “Mitch” Mitchell, 45, one of the diverse body of disabled students on campus, has to be patient. About once a week, it takes him up to two hours to get out of the science building.

“It’s like feeling trapped,” Mitchell said.

Last semester his dog, Whiplash, and another wheelchair-bound student, waited to see whether they would be carried out by the fire department, or if the elevator would be repaired.

Sometimes he prefers getting out of his wheelchair and walking down the three flights of stairs even though it’s agony for him. Climbing out of his wheelchair means constant pain.

“It’s really awful to be carried out,” Mitchell said.

He doesn’t appear upset. He seems to have accepted the inconvenience. Whiplash begged to be by his side, often putting her snout on his lap. The father of five is a biology major. His goal is teaching science in middle school—his lifelong dream.

Mitchell isn’t complacent either. He’s talked with the dean, the chair of the biology department and the head of maintenance about the elevator.

“The problem is in the design,” he said, aware of the limitations. “I was a service man at one point.”

The weekly two-hour wait for the broken elevator is just part of his routine now.

Mitchell is also hearing impaired and receives assistance from the access center. The center provides services for the disabled on campus.

“(Disabled services) is much better than it used to be,” Mitchell said.

The center helped him get real-time captioning for his classes through the assessment and documentation of his impairment.

Julie Farrar, 38, a mother and disabled Metro student, is actively involved with the access center on campus.

“The location is in the back of the library,” Farrar said, “which is not the most accessible place for an access center.”

She shared a sideways glance and crooked grin to animate her point. This doesn’t hinder her. She just acknowledged the humor in it as she maneuvered along effortlessly in her small wheelchair.

Rather than complaining, Farrar gets involved. When the Auraria Parking and Transportation Services charged an extra fee for a handicap spot above the parking permit fee, she complained.

“I noticed they got rid of that,” Farrar said.

Physical access for wheelchair-bound students on campus is decent.

“Auraria is very easy to get around,” Farrar said.

She said she believes the greatest challenges for the disabled are misperceptions and a lack of awareness.

It’s people that create challenges for the disabled on campus, like sitting in the path of a visually-impaired person using a guide stick, she said.

“They just don’t get out of the way,” Farrar said.

Another incident occurred when Farrar scooted off her wheelchair onto the floor to get into a bathroom stall because an able-bodied person was in the disabled stall.

“I know others like the disabled stalls because they’re big,” she said, “but I like them because I don’t have to crawl on the floor to get to the toilet.”

It’s just lack of courtesy, education and awareness, she said.

“The disabled are the only minority anyone can join,” Farrar said.

Statistically, about half the population will be disabled on some level at some point in their lives, according to Farrar.

Disabilities range from physical to learning challenges. The increase in openness and accessibility for the disabled makes it possible for these students to attend college, she said.

The access center provides a bridge for students with individualized education plans based on a needs assessment, said Brei Esser, disability services coordinator. Students go through an intake process ending with a letter documenting their disability. Students use the documentation with their instructors to design individualized learning plans, class by class.

But Esser and Farrar believe the access center is under-utilized and beset with false impressions. There can be a stigma about asking for accommodations from the center, Farrar said. Both women are committed to building awareness about the center and the diverse, individualized needs of those they help.

“There are a lot of misconceptions,” Farrar said, and then emphasized, “services, supports and accommodations do not compromise anyone’s education experience.”

These students work just as hard as others do, she said.

According to Esser, struggling students may not realize they may have a learning disability. The center recognizes the need for outreach to get more disabled students to utilize available services.

“It is the students’ responsibility to initially seek out services. No one in our office is aware of your needed accommodations when you enroll in school unless you contact our office,” states the access center’s Web site.

Farrar is helping the center plan an awareness building event this October.

“We want it to be a big event, one where people have fun but learn too,” Farrar said.

“I used to be called crippled,” Farrar said, “then it was handicapped, then disabled and now it’s disabled person.”

She said she wants to be seen as a person first and disabled second.

“Being in a wheelchair is a part of me that I accept and acknowledge,” she said. “It’s important to put the word ‘person’ as part of the label.”

The access center is located in the Auraria library, suite 116. Students can learn more about the center at http://www.mscd.edu/~access, or by calling 303-556-8387.