Wheelchair accessible campus is the primary requirement of handicapped students. For this reason, the University of Hull has come under serious criticism over its inadequate provisions. One particular zoology student says that the institution failed to hit the mark on inclusivity and accessibility on campus.
Sarah-Marie da Silva tweeted a photo while seated behind in the lecture hall as she could not scale down the stairs and mingle with her classmates.
Moreover, the student would neither write lecture notes nor record with a piece of equipment because she was not provided with a desk hence her screen vision was blurred.
She went on to lament that even if some of the buildings were 3 years old, she still faced accessibility issues since she started her course in October 2019.
Wheelchair accessible campus imperative
Sarah further implores that the lifts at the stairs are dilapidated and not in a state for use. In as much as the library has a slope leading to the reading room, it still portrayed massive danger for the students with mobility challenges.
The laboratories offer a whole bench for other students while she could only have a corner to herself that was adjustable and this led her into incomplete experiments.
Da Silva went on to inform the Independent that a lift shut on her hand as it could not detect her wheelchair. S he channeled her complaints but no staff took her seriously.
She says that these ordeals have literally destroyed her mental health. Normally she leads a better life out of school playing wheelchair basketball and going on dates with her boyfriend James, taking care of her pets and spending much of her time with family and attending university.
Da Silva says she is depressed because she can not sit close to her peers in lecture rooms and that leaves her feeling segregated.
Major problem across other institutions of higher learning
Accepting that she is physically challenged, she takes on basketball for empowerment only for her power to be stripped off in the University for being deprived of wheelchair accessible campus.
Da Silva opines that this could be a major problem across other institutions of higher learning and Hull was just but part of the problem and not an exception.
The zoology first-year student says that people with physical challenges have a difficult time accessing higher education towards the attainment of their degrees. She says that life is already difficult for them and it did not make further sense to go through frustration.
The student thinks that the only time the problem will be addressed would be when their complaints would be channeled to those at higher echelons of decision making and any university that is found non-compliant should be charged fines.
In the academic year 2017, 13.2 percent of the learners reported at least a disability.
The director of student services at Hull University Dr. Anji Gardner told The Independent they were apologetic and that was clearly not acceptable. She said that they took such matters seriously and her colleague from the student services had already started delving into the matter. She said that they were committed to working closely with their students in the provision of additional adjustments that were required, while she was apologetic that that had not taken place.
Gardner remarked that Hull University has a practice of carrying out accessibility surveys and audits and making efforts to enhance accessibility. She promised that action will be taken promptly and put in place mechanisms to make sure that the incidence did not re-occur again.
On the light side, robots on wheelchair accessible campus
When you encounter any of these robots on campus, do what a lot of upset people do: I sent off a thread of angry tweets about the experience.
