Attitudes can hurt more than disability
America seems to be commemorating the International
Year of the Disabled by shelving its programs for the
handicapped.
That’s the opinion of David Kleger, a rehabilitation
counselor with the state Vocational Rehabilitation Division.
Every Friday Kleger counsels some of the University’s
60 mobility-impaired students, 28 of whom are confined to
wheelchairs. A burly man with a full beard, Kleger lost the
use of his legs in an automobile accident at age 16.
“People find it to be one of the best institutions of
higher learning for the handicapped, especially because of
attitudes,’’ Kleger says of the University.
Chris Goodrich, University counselor for handicapped
students agrees. “I think Eugene is the most accessible city
in Oregon.”
7 wish I had a dime for every
time I came to a door and
someone would open it for me
and stand there with their toes
right where I have to go. ’
Because so much of the city is accessible, the
handicapped aren’t forced to sit home all day. Eugene's
high number of accessible buildings, lowered curbs and
lift-equipped buses is attractive to the handicapped.
Such improvements may be coming just in time.
Because of advances in medical technology, more people
survive disabling injuries to join a growing handicapped
population. The percentage of Americans in wheelchairs has
increased from a mere fraction to 2 percent since the 1930s,
Kleger says.
The Vietnam War also left thousands of young
Americans handicapped.
"When they went to continue their schooling after the
war they said, This university is not accessible to me. It's not
fair,' ” Goodrich says.
Spurred by the civil rights movement, Congress passed
the Vocational Rehabilitation Act in 1973, guaranteeing
equal rights for the mobility impaired.
But eight years later, schooling for the
handicapped is still an arduous undertaking. Disabled
students must turn in a completed class schedule one
month prior to registration so inaccessible classrooms
can be changed if necessary.
Visually impaired students must order books in
advance in Braille or on tape from the state library in
Salem. If a needed book isn't in Braille or on tape, one
must be specially recorded for the student, or the
student must rely on a reader.
Deaf students must coordinate with interpreters or
notetakers. Finding a person who can translate a
graduate-level physics course into sign language can
be difficult, Goodrich says.
“It’s not the same as telling someone where the
bathroom is.”
Because of these restrictions, handicapped
students’ academic success often depends on another
person.
“If you’re waiting to study for tomorrow’s midterm
and your reader doesn’t show up, you’re stuck,”
Goodrich explains.
Not surprisingly, the University’s disabled students
are the "handicapped elite.”
"The people you meet here are pretty
extraordinary,” Goodrich says. “They have made it.
They have accepted their physically limited conditions
and have worked out ways to deal with getting
around.”
This is reflected by a lower drop-out rate for
disabled students than for non-disabled
undergraduates, he adds.
Adaptability is the key for the disabled to both
surviving college and adjusting to life in general.
“I’m just amazed and baffled at seeing the ways
people learn to deal with handicaps," says Goodrich,
who is visually impaired.
He and a disabled friend worked out a symbiotic
relationship ennabling them to hunt deer in eastern
Oregon.
“He couldn't chase the deer down and I couldn't
see to shoot,” Goodrich recalls, “so he’d shoot the
deer and I'd retrieve it.”
Many handicapped students agree their
capabilities far exceed their limitations. Man-made
barriers therefore seem especially infuriating.
“I can hike in the Sierra Nevadas because they
don’t have steps," says Chester Faller, director of the
Physically Limited Union of Students, “but I can't go to
the restroom because it’s not accessible."
Kleger says attitudes do more to cripple than
injuries.
"Our culture has a mindset that a person with a
handicap is incapable,” he says.
“I wish I had a dime for every time I came to a door
and someone would open it for me and stand there
with their toes right where I have to go. ”
And some of the frustrations are deeper, Kleger says.
“If a student lives far out in the west side and he can't
park hfs car here, he cannot attend the University even if
he's as smart as Einstein.”
Handicapped people live on a small margin of safety, he
says.
A simple mechanical failure in a wheelchair battery can
leave a student stranded. Even sitting for too long in a
wheelchair can be deadly.
"If I get a sore on my butt and it becomes infected it
could kill me,” Kleger says.
While a student at Portland State University, a "Good
Samaritan” rushed over to assist Kleger transfer from his
‘If a student lives far out in the
west side and can't park his
car here, he cannot attend the
University even if he’s as
smart as Einstein. ’
wheelchair to his car. As Kleger lifted himself to get into the
car, his unnoticed benefactor pulled his wheelchair away. As
a result, Kleger fell on the door sill, sustaining a bone-deep
bruise that worsened into a pressure sore.
Such mishaps could be avoided if the non-disabled would
remember three simple rules, Kleger says.
First, ask if your help is needed before jumping in to
assist a handicapped person — the help may not be needed.
Second, listen when asked for help.
"Don't do it your way,” Kleger says. "Do it their way
because you could injure them if you help them the wrong
way.
And finally, show consideration for the handicapped by
honoring parking spots reserved for them.
“It is the thoughtless people in this world who render a
disabling condition a crippling one.”
Story by Jim Gersbach
Photo by Martha Stanton
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Report lists 54 inaccessable buildings
By PAUL TELLES
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Of the Emerald
Almost all college students have adjust
ment problems when they start school. They
face new demands and social situations.
But for handicapped students, these
problems are compounded by a more basic
difficulty — they frequently can’t get into the
classrooms.
A 1977 facility accessibility report, issued
by the University, lists 54 buildings that
need modification, ranging from stair ramps
and door pressure adjustments to elevators.
When handicapped students find they
need classes offered in inaccessible build
ings, the classes often can be moved to
accessible ones. But some inaccessible
buildings house special equipment essen
tial to study in some fields of study.
“One of the biggest problems, of course,
has been the telecommunications and our
mass media programs with electronic jour
nalism," says Ray Hawk, University vice
president for administration and finance
“This isn’t a case where you can move the
program to the student because you have it
wired for all the various sound equipment
for both radio and television."
The four inaccessible buildings with the
highest priority are Allen Hall, Deady Hall,
Villard Hall and the Center for Volcanology,
each containing special technical equip
ment available nowhere else on campus.
Villard Hall has a television studio and the
campus radio station, KWAX. Allen Hall,
where journalism classes meet, has com
puter equipment, a photography darkroom
and typewriters. Deady has mathematical
equipment, and Volcanology has geology
lab equipment.
Legislature delays improvements
“We’re faced with the situation where if a
handicapped student wanted that program,
we’d probably have to suggest to him that
it’s not possible at the University,” Hawk
says. "They’d better look at one of the other
state schools where maybe their facilities
would be accessible to them."
Hawk says the problem is regrettable but
not confined to the handicapped. “If you
wanted to take engineering, you couldn’t
take it at this university. You’d have to go to
Oregon State,” he says.
“I guess it’s not totally unreasonable to
say to a student that if it’s going to cost us a
million dollars to adopt a facility to make it
possible for you to take the course, maybe
it’s wiser if you would go to a school that
could provide it for you within their existing
facilities."
The Legislature and the attorney general
probably would concur in that opinion, he
adds.
Some of the older buildings haven't been
modified for handicapped students
because it would require significant plan
ning to make sure the alterations wouldn’t
detract from the buildings' characters,
Hawk says.
In 1973, Congress passed a law requiring
institutions that receive federal funds to
make their resources handicapped-acces
sible by June, 1980.
However, the necessary changes won't
be completed until the Legislature appro
priates the funds, a process that could take
three years, according to Hawk.
“The University is caught in a situation
where we would really like to see every
building accessible. We think ultimately this
is the way the University should be,” Hawk
says.
"But being a state institution, the funding
comes from the Legislature. We’re power
less.”
The 1979 Legislature appropriated funds
for handicapped accessibility projects, but
withdrew the money during the special
budget-cutting session this summer.
Hawk says planning for the alteration of
some buildings nearly had been completed
before the session, and those projects will
be finished But plans for other buildings
had to be shelved.
Despite Hawk's explanations, Chester
Faller, director of the Physically Limited
Union of Students, isn’t satisfied the
University is lobbying hard enough for the
money.
"They’re certainly willing to raise the
money for athletics, but they’re not willing to
raise the money for accessibilty.”
Faller says problems in the older build
ing’s construction is "a lousy excuse.
"I don’t care to have every closet in the
university accessible, but I want to be able
to take part in programs as if I wasn’t disa
bled, which the law says I should be able to
do.”
Since handicapped students pay the
same tuition as able-bodied students, Faller
says they should be able to expect the same
services.
Faller says very few students complain
about the lack of classroom accessibility,
even after they are denied access to crucial
classes.
"When we deal with the word accessibili
ty, we deal with program accessibility — a
disabled person can take all the same pro
grams a non-disabled person could,” he
says. “We feel that disabled students
shouldn’t have to go to any more trouble
than a non-disabled student to get the same
education.”
However, Faller says resistance to the
accessibility projects comes mainly from
the Legislature and the State Board of
Higher Education, not the University ad
ministration.
At a state board meeting earlier this
month, a motion to move handicapped
accessibility projects from fifth to 15th on
the board's list of lobbying priorities failed
by a 5-5 vote.
If the motion had passed, it would have
made it unlikely for the issue to be
considered by the Legislature this session,
according to John Moore, legislative assis
tant for the Oregon Student Lobby.
Moore says the OSL is lobbying for rein
statement of the accessibility funds, but is
unable to speculate on the lobby’s chances
of success until state revenue estimates are
available in April.
Despite the failure of the priority motion,
Moore says the state board may yet decide
not to push for the accessibility projects.
“In general, the board is inaccessible to
lobbying by anyone," he says. "It makes it a
real guessing game."
Moore also says the OSL is promoting a
bill that would provide for full-time hand
icapped counselors at the University and
several other state system schools, which
could work to defeat the feeling of power
lessness Faller says he notices among
students.
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