This past quarter started right off the bat; I felt as if I was tossed into a cold, raging river without any life preserver. The work load that we started with at the beginning was unexpected and ended up being overwhelming at times. In the midsts of all the new assignments and keeping up with the readings, I had to get my paperwork from the DRS and deliver it to my professors. I ended up e-mailing two of my professors and asked them to meet me at the top of the classroom to sign my paperwork, so I could take it back to the DisAbility Resources for Students (DRS). I had two classes (PLSC 346 and ENVS 204) that were both in classrooms where I could not access the front. Arntzen Hall 100 and Environmental Science 100 are the two largest classrooms on Western's campus, so I understand why so many classes are only offered in those classrooms. However, on top of not being able to access the front of the classroom to ask my professor a simple question, I am also not able to get close enough to read the board nor the overhead. I am visually impaired, so being limited to sitting in the very back is detrimental to my learning success. I would love to have the equal opportunity to choose to sit in the back or the front of the classroom, just like any other student. Since, these two buildings are older and do not have to be accessible, I cannot complain about the inaccessibility of these said buildings. Never the less, I would have hoped that newer buildings would have been built with equally as large and with equal accessibility to the front and the back of the classrooms. However, even if there were equally as large of classrooms that were more accommodating, I would not be able to get the classrooms switched, as the DRS has made it clear that they cannot switch a classroom for one student, as then they would have to switch classrooms for any student that asked. The DRS was even reluctant to move a class that I could not even get to, they said to just take another class. The DRS ended up moving my class, and now that building has recently been remodeled. Another way that this college could accommodate legally blind students who cannot access the front, is provide us with a device called the Da Vinci (or a similar device). This device is one that is very much like one that I used in grade school, but 100 times better; technology has improved and so has the Da Vinci. This device allows a student to point a camera at the blackboard or the overhead, the picture is then streamed to a screen and can be enlarged to suit the student's needs. Would it shock you if I said Western does not have this device? Well, they do not, but Bellingham Technical College does.
The other problem with Anrtzen 100 is even though a wheelchair accessible platform exists, it is not big enough for a table (that I can fit under) and my wheelchair. This means that I have to hold my notebook when taking notes. I do have a table top but since I am visually impaired, I cannot see what I am writing if my notebook is sitting on it. I prefer a higher table, as my notebook can sit closer to my face, and I can see what I am writing.
In ENVS 204, we had a quiz on six of the ten Fridays during the quarter. My professor projected the quiz each week up onto the overhead screen. Since I could not read the screen, I asked my professor if he could print me out a large print copy of the quiz (as I did not want to take a five question quiz at the DRS). He told me that I would have to remind him every Friday morning before each quiz. I forgot to call him before the second quiz and he also forgot to print me out a copy of that quiz. I had to go up to his office after class in order to take my quiz. I then ended up taking every future quiz in his office (for some reason he did not want me to take my quiz in the classroom). Something strange that he did eight weeks into the quarter was he brought me a piece of paper (that was typed in such small print that I could not read it) and he told me that he was going to shine that same document up onto the overhead screen. My friend sitting next to me took a look at the document and said that it was from Chapter Nine study guide. This document never showed up on the overhead screen during class.
After taking my first test for ENVS 204, I received an e-mail from professor telling me to make sure that my scantron form was filled out and made it to him after the next test. I do not fill out the scantron, the DRS bubbles in my answers on the scantron that I circle on the actual test. I had specifically written at the top of my test that I needed the multiple choice answers to be transferred onto a scantron. For the next test, my bubble sheet did turn up, but my professor did not receive the written part of my test. It is very unnerving to see an "F" in the grade book and not know why! A couple days later, the other half of my test did finally show up.
My PLSC 346 final was scheduled for Tuesday of finals week at 8:00 A.M. I showed up to the DRS fifteen minutes early and there was a line that stretched through the DRS, out the door and past the bathrooms; there were at least thirty people already waiting in line when I arrived. At about 8:00, I finally reached the front of the line (not bad because that is when my test taking was supposed to commence). None the less, when the lady distributing the tests handed me my final, it was the wrong test. See, there is a Mrs. Singleton on campus, who teaches political science; she taught my class this past quarter, and there is a Mr. Singleton on campus, who teaches accounting; he created the test that I was handed. When Mrs. Singleton did not send a copy of the PLSC 346 final to the DRS, the DRS just assumed that the test sent by Mr. Singleton was the test I was supposed to take. Singleton and Singleton, okay same last name; but political science and accounting? I explained that this was not the correct test and I would like to not have to complete the final for a class I have never taken. The lady who handed me the wrong test relayed the message to the main testing lady in the DRS. She then went and asked one of the counselors to please go pick up a copy of the correct final. The environmental science building (where my PLSC 346 class was located) is half way across campus. It took the counselor about fifteen minutes to go fetch my test. By the time I actually get my test I had been in the DRS for over 45 minutes.
While I was waiting for my test, the the main testing lady took me into the testing room and placed me at the new table that they finally got this past quarter. The new table that they purchased, they bought because of me. When I could no longer take my test in the room that I had for five quarters, I explained that I could not fit under the table that was in the main testing room, and it was extremely uncomfortable to take my tests. So, two quarters later, they finally got accessible tables (until then, they did let me take my tests in the other room, but the table that worked well for me had disappeared). The ironic thing about the accessible table in the main testing room is it does move up and down, but I cannot physically push the buttons to make it do so!
Okay, I did finally get my test; however, when it was handed to me, it was not in large print. I could read it, barely, but I could manage. I was already in the testing room, squished like a sardine with every other student who takes their final in the DRS; I could not move without running into three other people and disturbing everyone in that room. When I leave the room, I cannot shut the door behind me, meaning I would have to leave the door open. So, I decided that this time I would not go ask for the essay questions to be enlarged. However, to my surprise, the testing lady came into the testing room about five minutes later and took my test back. She then returned with an enlarged copy of my test! I even received my first genuine sorry from someone in the DRS. I later found out that my mom and her friend saw me taking my test through the windows of the testing room (the whole one side of the room is windows). My mom asked the testing lady if my test had been enlarged. She exclaimed, "well, she should have told us." The first final that I received (the accounting final), was already enlarged when I arrived to take my test. It is on my file that I need large print, I should not have to ask.
Never the less, with every storm, comes a rainbow. The reasoning for this being my favorite quarter at WWU is, this past quarter I made many genuine friends that see me as me and not my disability. Another reason is, for the first time, I had a professor not just accommodate me, but went above and beyond to help me succeed in his class. By all means, I do not mean that he treated me "differently" or set lower standards for me, but he made it clear that he was there if I ever needed his help; he e-mailed me and talked to me in person many times in order to make sure that he got the accommodations I requested correct. He even asked me if it was legal to not have handicap access buttons on all the doors (even the classroom doors); he was concerned that I had to wait for someone to open the door for me. I explained that to the best of my knowledge, handicap access buttons are only a curtsy and do not need to be placed on any doors (inside or out). The other neat thing that he did was every test that he sent to the DRS was already formatted with large print (so the DRS did not have to do so). I have never had a professor enlarge all my tests before sending them to the DRS! Thank you Professor Chen; you are an amazing professor and I am excited to take another class from you next quarter.
Two more really awesome things happened, both have to do with better accessibility on campus. The first one happened towards the beginning of the quarter. By Old Main, there was a bump up from the parking lot to the brick walkway; this bump was close to two inches and when in a wheelchair, going up this size of bump can be painful. It is also dangerous to anyone walking who is not paying attention. I saw two maintenance workers that were near the bump, so I pointed it out to them; I voiced my concerns and asked if they, or whoever was responsible for that sort of thing, could fix it. Nothing happened with regards to the bump, but the parking lot next to Old Main was patched. A couple weeks later, a friend of the family, who has connections to the maintenance department, told me to let him know if I ever needed anything done around campus. I explained to him about that bump by Old Main and within a week, that bump had been ramped!
No more bump!
The other neat thing that happened is still in process. Towards the middle of the quarter another maintenance worker saw me traveling up the sidewalk parallel to the drive next to Arntzen Hall. Towards one end of the sidewalk, stood a light pole. This light pole had a large base that greatly protruded into the sidewalk. The sidewalk bends out around the base of the light, and this obstacle reveals who the bad drivers are. The part that bends around the light is skinnier than the rest of the sidewalk; I have a small clearance on either side of me (and I have a small chair)! An even worse structural issue about this sidewalk was the railing that curved around the exterior of the sidewalk. This railing did not do anything except get in the way. The railing did not prevent anyone from rolling off the sidewalk, as there is a concrete lip that does that, nor does it prevent anyone from driving onto the sidewalk. Large trucks use that parallel drive and one smashed into the railing, bending it into the pathway, preventing anyone in a wheelchair from using that sidewalk altogether. It is not safe for anyone to travel in the same driveway as crazy truck drivers.
The railing was the first thing to go. Then during dead week, a new light pole was put in place behind the sidewalk. Then during finals week, the light pole was removed from the base. Now all that is left is the great protruding concrete base, which should be gone by the end of break! Thank you to all the maintenance workers who are improving Western's campus and making it accessible to all.
A beautiful autumn day on campus
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