Navigating in Ackerman hard for wheelchair users
By Vanda Suvansilpakit
Feb. 25, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Most students find it easy to stroll through the UCLA Store to
look for T-shirts and mugs they want to buy, but the same walk can
turn into an exhausting trip for those in wheelchairs who have to
navigate through a maze of sweatshirt racks that are sometimes
placed close together.
For fourth-year psychology student Sharon Daly, buying a diary
in the store is more than a simple round between the shelves to
choose among the merchandise. Daly, whose disability requires the
use of an electric scooter, said the space is too narrow for her to
turn the corner.
“The people I asked for help were very helpful, but
it’s still troublesome not being able to get things for
yourself,” she said.
Daly is one of many students with disabilities who relies on
mobile equipment to get around on campus. Many of these students
have trouble getting around in the Ackerman Union store, where the
space between tables, clothes and display racks is sometimes very
tight.
The issue of wheelchair accessibility was recently brought to
the store’s attention when a visitor to UCLA commented the
space between clothes racks may have been inadequate. Throughout
this month, the store has been working to make sure that its
fixtures meet the guidelines set out in the Americans with
Disabilities Act, which provides minimum width requirements of
passage and turning space for wheelchair users.
According to ADA’s guidelines, the minimum width between
the fixtures is 36 inches, while the space provided for turning the
wheelchair must be at least 60 inches in diameter or be in a
T-shaped space.
As part of its efforts to comply with the guidelines, the store
asked Karen Henderson-Winge, acting ADA compliance officer in the
chancellor’s office, to walk through the store on Wednesday,
looking for possible areas where passages may be too narrow for
wheelchairs to go through.
Henderson-Winge made several suggestions for improvements on
several parts of the store to make it more accessible for
wheelchair users, including relocating display racks and stools
that block wheelchairs’ passage.
Retail Director Keith Schoen said because the original floor
plan was drawn up in compliance with ADA’s guidelines,
sections of the store with permanent fixtures, such as the
Bookzone, are accessible to wheelchair users. Accessibility concern
is mainly focused on the Bearwear and Fast Track areas, which sell
apparel and accessories, because the fixtures there are movable,
Schoen said.
“If you don’t look at them from day to day you could
end up with the racks being put too close together,” he
said.
Many students in wheelchairs said they find the store difficult
to navigate through, especially during sales periods when
additional tables are put out along the aisles.
Gatt Lindsey, a wheelchair user and graduate student at the
School of Theatre, Film and Television, said the space between
tables set out for sales is too narrow for him to pass through.
“I can get around the whole set of tables, but I
can’t go through each to get to the merchandise in the
middle,” Lindsey said.
Other students said they have no trouble browsing through the
store in their wheelchairs.
“I go through the store everyday and it’s fine. I
don’t think the space between the clothes racks is too
narrow,” said Emanuel Lin, a fourth-year computer science
student.
But Lin said he finds it more difficult to move through and turn
around corners in the textbook section, located on Ackerman
Union’s A-level.
“I can go through the aisles but it’s very difficult
because the space between the bookshelves is very narrow,”
Lin said.
Schoen said the store will need to pay more attention to the
sections with movable clothes racks and tables.
“When the cleaning people come at the end of the day, we
have to make sure that the fixtures are not moved around so that
they’re butted against one another,” he said.
There may be some training for the morning staff to check and
make sure the fixtures are properly moved back, he said.
