Western is Not Alone: Eastern Bathroom Problems

I just returned home from an awesome road trip to Bozeman, Montana. My family and I traveled there so my sister, Gina, could attend a track camp at Montana State University and check out their program. We had a great time exploring the town and the campus. To my knowledge, Bozeman is a pretty handicap friendly town. I only found a couple of places that were not and both were old enough to be grandfathered in. on top of the town being accessible, the hotel we stayed was great. The C'mon Inn is very accommodating; the shower was open, with a seat and hand-held shower head. The toilet had hand bars and my chair could even fit in the bathroom. I really enjoyed my experience in Bozeman.

On our way home, we dropped my sister off at Ironwood: a shot and discus camp for high school students. This year the camp is being held at Eastern Washington University. During my short time at EWU, I became disgruntled about their bathroom setups. On the main floor of Morrison Hall, there is a bathroom labeled as handicap accessible; however, the door could not be shut if I took my wheelchair inside the bathroom. The other thing is, this bathroom did not have any grab bars. Even though the building is old enough to be grandfathered in and does not "need" to be accessible, they should not put a handicap accessible sign up, which misleads the common eye into thinking the bathroom is accessible. So, because I needed to use the bathroom, I was on a search to find another one that I could use. One of the people directing the athletes informed me that there was another bathroom downstairs that she thought was handicap accessible. Well, according to the sign outside the door, the bathroom was handicap accessible. However, this bathroom did not have a handicap stall. Except, one of the stalls did have makeshift hand bars that were actually towel racks. This is misleading and dangerous; a towel rack is not as strong as a hand bar. If a person was to put their full body weight on one of these towel racks, the "makeshift bar" would most likely break off. This bathroom should not be labeled handicap accessible, because it is not.

 

This is the bathroom in the main lobby of Morrison Hall.

This is the stall with the hand bars made from towel racks.

Here is the handicap sign located outside the door of the bathroom with the towel rack stall.

Even though I do not appreciate the fact that there was not a handicap accessible bathroom in Morrison Hall, I understand  that older buildings (built before 1992) that have not been remodeled, do not have to be accessible. Never the less, it is the fact that EWU is misleading the public into thinking that Morrison Hall is accessible. They are also putting handicap people in danger by misleading them as well. The actual problem results from people not knowing exactly what truly makes a handicap accessible bathroom. Most people are ignorant due to lack of education. When upgrading to the standard, please ask questions and do not cut corners. Even though it may be the easier thing to do, it is definitely not the right thing to do. Either do nothing at all or do it right.