The Bathroom Beat: WWU's Humanities Bathrooms

The main bathrooms in the Humanities Building (HU) on Western Washington University's (WWU's) campus are not accessible to anyone who is unable to access stairs; these bathrooms are located in the basement, and the elevator cannot access the basement (just floors one, two and three). However, this is not in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as an accessible bathroom is located on the second floor.; according to the ADA, as long as there is one accessible bathroom (or stall) provided in the same building where a bathroom is -- or even multiple bathrooms are -- available to the public, then the building is compliant with respect to that standard.

Flight of stairs that leads down to the bathrooms in the Humanities Building.

Even though HU fulfills the ADA requirement of having an accessible bathroom, the bathroom in the basement is in violation of the ADA. This is not due to this bathroom being located down a flight of stairs, nor is it due to none of the stalls fulfilling any other requirements; it is, however, in violation of the ADA due to there not being any indication of where the nearest accessible bathroom is located. At the top of the stairs leading to the basement bathrooms, there is a sign informing people that there are bathrooms located at the bottom of the stairway; however, this leaves anyone who cannot access stairs to have to search for a different bathroom. Not only does this sign not indicate the location of the nearest accessible bathroom, it also does not provide the information in Braille and the characters are not raised. There are signs labeling the bathrooms at the entrance to each restroom, but they do not provide the necessary information either -- which would be ironic if they did as most people who need an accessible bathroom would not descend a flight of stairs to use the bathroom -- and the information that is provided in not up to code as well.

A yellow sign indicating where the bathroom are located hangs at the top of the stairs.

An up-close picture of the sign indicating the location of the bathrooms in the Humanities Building. It is an 8.5" x 11" yellow sign that reads, "RESTROOM DOWNSTAIRS," in black, capital letters, with a large, black, downward-pointing arrow underneath the words. 

When a bathroom is not accessible, the ADA requires that there is an indicator of where the nearest accessible bathroom is located. WWU thought to put a sign at the top of the stairway as a courtesy to students, but this sign is only a courtesy to students who can access the stairs. WWU prides itself on being inclusive and welcoming, but simple acts of courtesy -- or lack thereof -- speak loudly when it comes to the true character of a person or entity. A sign is small, it is simple, but when such a thing is lacking, so is the inclusive nature and welcoming atmosphere.