Students to admin: more accessibility, please
Saburah Murdoch is fed up with Ryerson students who take the elevator instead of the stairs.
The second-year journalism student once waited for an elevator in Jorgenson Hall; when it arrived it was full of able-bodied students and a woman with a walker. Only the woman with the walker offered to give up her place to Murdoch, who uses a motorized scooter.
It's incidents like this that can make Ryerson unaccommodating to students with disabilities, Murdoch told a crowd of group 10 students and a few administrators gathered last Wednesday night for a forum held by the President's Commission on Student Engagement and Experience.
The commission, which is being chaired by Faculty of Community Services Dean Sue Williams, is seeking student input on a variety improvements that can be made at Ryerson.
"There isn't one thing or five things or even ten things (that are the same) concerns for all students," Williams said. The commission is holding meetings to hear from a variety of groups on campus.
Warren Rupnarain, a fourth-year Social Work student, said he'd like to see a new elevator in the Ryerson Athletics Centre.
Although the RAC currently has an elevator, "it looks like it's from the 15th century," Rupnarain said. The elevator doesn't have a door that opens automatically and, according to Rupnarain, who also uses a scooter to get around, it would be easy to get stuck inside.
Murdoch and Rupnarain also said they'd like to see a lift installed in the RAC pool so they could get in and out without assistance.
The elevator in the new Student Campus Centre is also a problem, Murdoch, who's a co-ordinator for RyeAccess, said. She needs the elevator to get to the second floor of the Student Campus Centre, where RyeAccess has its office.
She's often had to take the elevator in Oakham House instead because the one in the SCC was out of service.
Washrooms are another area where Ryerson could do better, Rupnarain said.
He said washrooms like the one in the Access Centre need to be in most buildings on campus, especially Kerr Hall. Rupnarain has night classes in Kerr Hall, and in the past has had to drive to the RCC because it houses the nearest accessible washrooms.
The commission will issue a preliminary report sometime this month. The final report will be released in June.
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