Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, the University has steadily increased accessibility for the disabled on campus. But some say the University still doesn't meet the needs of all members of the community.
The ADA requires that Brown provide equal educational services, opportunities and programs, within reason, for all faculty, students and staff, disabled or not. The responsibility for carrying out the charge lies with the Office of Disability Support Services
Currently, 469 students are registered with DSS, according to Director of Disability Support Services Catherine Axe - a number that fluctuates depending on the number of temporarily disabled students at any given time.
"I think the key thing is that we work individually on a case-by-case basis with everyone ... who comes to our office," Axe said.
When the University undertakes major projects, such as constructing new buildings or renovating old ones, it takes the ADA into account. With a number of significant campus construction projects underway, DSS works closely with both Facilities Management and the Campus Access Advisory Committee to ensure that compliance with ADA regulations, Axe said.
The advisory committee was a working group when it was created in 2003 but has since been made into an official subcommittee of the Disability Advisory Board. "The committee's really designed to kind of be a place where we bring together faculty, staff and students to kind of look at current issues," said Axe, who co-chairs the committee.
Thomas Gimbel '07, who uses a wheelchair, said he thinks the efforts of DSS and the University in general have been "very good" in terms of making the campus accommodating.
"Obviously they still have some progress to be made of course, but there's always going to be a need for changes and progress. But I think it's really good, and it's been very good to me," Gimbel said.
Gimbel said accessibility on campus is "a bit complicated," noting that newer buildings are accessible, and the University is making some older buildings, such as Smith-Buonanno, fully accessible. "But then some buildings like Wilson are completely inaccessible. So there's just no way in," he said.
Gimbel said one issue at Brown is the exemption to ADA requirements for historical buildings. "Here, of course, it's a problem. It's a huge thing. I mean many of the departments are completely inaccessible."
Gimbel, a religious studies concentrator, said he's only been inside the department's building once - and that was with the aid of six people.
"Sometimes for historic preservation purposes we have to work within (the ADA's) guidelines, but often there's a way we can do it. It's just going to involve a different type of planning," Axe said.
But despite some challenges, Gimbel expressed satisfaction with the University's efforts to provide accommodations. "(Brown is) a good place and definitely becoming a better place for people with disabilities," he said.
But not everyone is so satisfied with the University's efforts. Arkady Belozovsky, a lecturer at the Center for Language Studies, said he has found the University's compliance with ADA regulations to be "very poor."
Belozovsky, who is deaf and spoke to The Herald over the phone via an interpreter, expressed frustration with the University's failure to provide the services necessary for deaf and hard-of-hearing members of the community that are required under the ADA.
For example, Belozovsky said there is often confusion over who is responsible for paying for interpreter services at meetings or events - a service Belozovsky said was required of the University by ADA.
"I have to run around like a chicken with my head cut off just trying to chase some money down for the provision of interpreter services," he said.
Belozofsky said he has repeatedly asked the University for money in the budget for interpreting services. "I have to keep repeatedly reminding them. And after three or four times I'm tired of doing that. I'm concerned that it's going to affect my job as well as my work performance," he said.
DSS has provided services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of the community, Axe said. She said Teletypewriters - devices that facilitate telecommunications for the deaf and hard-of-hearing - were recently installed on campus in locations including the Rockefeller Library and the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center.
"We've never had a request that we've turned down just on the basis of payment," Axe said. She added that centralized funds are available for interpreter services.
Axe wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the Friedman Study Center is home to a new "assistive technology room," which provides programs and services for both deaf and blind patrons. She said there are two similar rooms in the Rock.
Belozovsky said he had never heard of any such room. "I've heard nothing about that room. Nothing. Not one word," he said.
"The Office of Disability Support Services is required to have speech-reading or note takers in classes, and that's a weak area. They're not publicizing what is available to (the students)," he said.
