Access denied

Wednesday, December 3, 1997

STUDENTS:

Closure of Hershey to mean loss of independence for someBy
Michael LaFemina

Daily Bruin Contributor

The closure of Hershey Hall next year, the only on-campus
graduate housing at UCLA, will represent more than an inconvenience
for students with mobility disabilities who presently occupy the
building.

For these students, there are greater factors to consider than a
simple change of residence.

"Students with mobility disabilities are going to have problems
with housing on the hill," said Laura Herrera, a third-year
psychology student and handicapped resident of Hershey Hall.

"Being in Hershey, I am close to my classes," Herrera continued.
"It would be a great hardship to get to class if I lived on the
hill."

For Herrera and other students in Hershey who are dependent upon
wheelchairs, electronic scooters or walkers for transportation,
housing options after Hershey’s closure will be somewhat
limited.

Most of the 330 graduate students presently occupying the
building will relocate to apartments around campus, dormitories on
the hill above Bruin Walk or the Hilgard Houses when Hershey closes
next year to provide space for academic departments. However, not
all of these options are practical for mobility-impaired
students.

Many apartments are situated a considerable distance from
campus, and, according to Michael Foraker, the director of housing
administration at UCLA, the Hilgard Houses generally do not meet
the needs of the mobility-impaired.

"Sunset Village and the Saxon Suites are the places that are
spatially designed to meet the needs of the mobility-impaired,"
Foraker said. Besides the availability of accessible housing,
though, there are other obstacles which mobility-impaired students
worry about in their move to the dormitories, such as the steepness
of Bruin Walk and the increased distance from classes.

"For me, Sunset Village isn’t really an option because of the
distance and because my studies are very intensive," said Kathy
Hayward, a first-year graduate student in the School of Public
Health and a resident of Hershey Hall.

"I have an electronic scooter, and it can only handle a certain
gradient of steepness," she continued. "That particular angle (on
Bruin Walk) is really, really bad."

Students have also cited problems with accessibility to campus
that may occur next year upon Hershey’s closure.

"Right now I can roll in and out of campus whenever I want to,"
said Hisano Hamada, a first-year Japanese major and
wheelchair-bound resident of Hershey. "Living up on a hill will
basically take away my mobility."

However, administrators claim that students with disabilities
have been coping with life on the hill above Bruin Walk for
years.

"The campus is by and large accessible, and certainly Bruin Walk
is," said Duke Oakley, assistant vice chancellor for Capital
Programs design and construction. "You can get (to the dorms), but
it is obviously difficult."

Oakley relies on a wheelchair for mobility and must ascend Bruin
Walk on a regular basis.

The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), an organization
that provides educational support services and programmatic access
to students with disabilities, provides another method of
transportation for disabled students through its on-campus van
service. Last year, a total of 5,272 on-campus van rides were given
to 219 students with mobility impairments.

However, even though this van service is available and it is
possible to live in the dormitories with a mobility impairment,
handicapped students in Hershey Hall are still wary about the
move.

For instance, there is only one OSD van for the whole campus,
and it can hold only two wheelchairs at a time. In addition, van
service normally ceases at 6 p.m. on weekdays, although evening
transports are available by prior request.

"I need to be able to go where I need to go when I need to,"
Hayward said. "There are great services offered on campus, but they
require a lot of planning."

Students are also worried about becoming too dependent upon the
OSD transport service.

"If something happens to that van, all rides will be stopped and
canceled," Herrera said.

In addition, mobility-impaired students cite loss of
independence as reason for their concern.

"If they are going to cut off a prime location for housing that
gives independence and access to the campus, that kind of defeats
the purpose of making the campus accessible," she continued.

At present, the closure of Hershey Hall is not an issue for the
Chancellor’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & 504
Office, an organization which ensures that UCLA facilities comply
with the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Both of these laws deal with the availability of opportunities and
services for those with disabilities.

The ADA & 504 Office is not yet involved in Hershey’s
closure because no formal complaints have been filed and Bruin Walk
is technically considered wheelchair-accessible. Even though the
office is not active in the closure yet, the issue is far from
resolved.

"It doesn’t seem like there is a viable solution yet," said
Andrew Westall, president of the Graduate Students Association.

JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin

Next year, Hershey Hall will be devoted to office space, forcing
disabled students out of some of the most accessible campus
housing.