The sorry state of ADA compliance at Evergreen

At the end of every school year, students staying in campus housing for the summer often have to move. The campus rents many of the rooms to summer camps and other groups.

Last summer, one student who was nearly blind was required to move from A Dorm all the way to the Mods. The school provided no support for the student’s move. Other students had to go off campus, buy boxes, and help with the moving process. After moving across campus into the new unit, the student began having many problems with the lights and water. The unit had not been occupied for a while and was not functioning correctly.

There is only one dorm room at Evergreen that is fully wheelchair accessible, and even that one has problems with the shower area being too small for newer wheelchairs. Rob Workman, a student who has been battling ADA (American Disabilities Act) issues on campus, wanted to live on campus but never had the opportunity. He applied for a house more than a year before coming to Evergreen, but the waiting list for the single wheelchair accessible unit was too long. Such housing situations make Evergreen a challenging place for many people.

I was shocked as I explored more of Evergreen’s policy and lack of awareness and process on ADA compliance issues. It is disappointing that a campus that stands by diversity and a different approach to education lacks such an understanding of the ableism this campus creates.

The faculty websites aren’t up to code to allow for equal access to people with learning disabilities. Workman has seen many students drop out of programs—even drop out of school—because of the lack of access to equal use of the materials for their class and the school.

When it comes to something like the websites, I must wonder why faculty haven’t just come together and make all their sites ADA accessible.

It would take very little change overall to the sites, just arranging things a little differently for easy printing with enlarged fonts and formats. This simple step would give more students access to their classes and would be an improvement for the whole class, as everyone would be able to contribute equally.

All issues of ADA compliance fall under one, underpaid staff person, Access Services Director Meredith Inocencio. “She does a great job,” says Workman, who has worked closely with her. However, the staff is limited and tied up with the daily task of getting all students to their classes and working out problems that arise for students throughout the day. Without campus awareness and support, it is hard for an over-worked office to tackle the huge problems in Evergreen’s lack of ADA compliance and accessibility.

Workman reflects back to when he first came to campus, through the Key program. He remembers that First Peoples and Key worked on access for their own group. “I didn’t come to school to do work requests,” Workman says. But due to Evergreen’s lack of access, he has found that much of his time at Evergreen is taken up with just getting the right access to the institution he is paying to attend.

Workman had to learn how Evergreen as an institution worked before he could find the right services, and this leads to many students not knowing or being able to use the limited services that Evergreen does have available.

Workman talks about his experience on the CAB remodel committee, and how the ADA ramp was cut in the first round of changes. Due to the unreliability of Evergreen elevators Rob says that he doesn’t feel safe on the upper level of buildings without
a ramp. What happens in case of a fire? “This is when I stopped going to CAB remodel meetings,” Workman said. “[The CAB] is something I am paying for, and I can’t feel safe going up to the 3rd floor.” The committee responded that this was only a remodel.

By the time Workman left the CAB committee, 60% of the ADA budget in the new CAB had been cut. But this shouldn’t be surprising, as none of the outside ramps are at the right slope for many wheelchairs to be able to use, and most classroom doors are heavier than ADA specifications.

Workman also describes how he had to fight to get elevator signs for the new library. People were getting lost and couldn’t find elevators around the new building. There is also a similar problem with the lack of signs guiding people to accessible bathrooms throughout the library building. This lack of awareness around abelism is a society- wide problem, but one I feel Evergreen should be addressing much better.

It is time to start addressing how Evergreen can serve students better, and this should include all students. Issues around ADA compliance come up across campus, like at the occupation
of the Housing Community Center in February. It turns out that only one door entering the building is ADA accessible, which many students that weekend were not aware of. This highlighted the lack of access at Evergreen. Why is only one door ADA accessible?

How can we, as students, push to see this campus serve all students and ensure equal access is provided to everyone? These are questions I started asking myself as an able-bodied person, and now I view the campus differently when I walk from one end to the other. This situation is further highlighted by the obstacles in access the CAB remodel has caused in movement from upper campus to lower campus for some of our fellow students.