UB expertise ignored on campus accessibility issues

To The Editor:
A recent letter to the Reporter decried the practice of UB's leadership in hiring outside consultants to craft plans and advice, while ignoring on-campus expertise. The announcement of a planning process for traffic and parking by Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs, using an outside consultant is an indication of the inability to internally coordinate a campus-wide collaboration in planning and development. (Note: The consultant's work follows an already completed study and recommendations for traffic and parking accomplished through UB's Environmental Task Force (ETF) led by Robert Berger, professor of law. The latter study was ignored by campus leadership, despite the credentials and experience of Professor Berger, and open input from the campus community.) While some defend the use of outside consultants as "objective"—implying that experts on the faculty cannot be objective—I suggest there is little quality control or accountability when outside consultants are identified and used.

In this letter, I describe deficiencies in the portion of the present "planning process" focused on addressing questions of handicapped accessibility. I am a parent of a disabled child and an advisor for a UB chemistry major who uses a wheelchair. I serve the Buffalo Public Schools as a member of the Special Education Parents Advisory Committee (SEPAC), a federally mandated advisory committee guiding policy in the schools, and believe my experiences are relevant. Accessibility in this context includes physical access to facilities and classrooms, governed by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and/or the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

In the current plan, results from one hastily organized, poorly attended meeting (not a focus group) are being supplemented by a survey that presently is being promulgated by VP Black from the consultant's Web site. These poor procedures point to the flaws and weaknesses of hiring an off-campus consulting firm to handle the study. It is especially ironic, given the situation with on-campus expertise in this field. Who is accountable when a consultant does a lousy job?

The poor state of roadways and curb cuts on campus, exacerbated by construction projects that take no account of wheelchair pathways, are just part of a huge problem on the North Campus, to say nothing of the South Campus. It is especially ironic that UB has nationally recognized experts in universal design—Professors Ed Steinfeld and G. Scott Danford in the School of Architecture and Planning. UB is a national leader in funded research in many related areas; in particular, four National Institute of Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) National Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers. Besides universal design and communication enhancement, led by Professor Jeff Higginbotham in Communicative Disorders and Sciences, there also is expertise in aging and assistive technology and technology transfer.

While it may be that some consultant's interpretation of (perhaps minimal) ADA practice guides student housing-construction projects at UB, there are many problems that universal-design expertise would have avoided. The lack of elevators in any of the new housing on campus means handicapped students are consigned to the first floor and cannot even visit friends or siblings on higher floors. Besides creating sprawl and traffic, housing far from the Spine creates difficulties for students to get to classrooms. Has anyone considered a path from the new housing to the Spine for a power wheelchair that does not involve a bus ride that requires 24 hours notice? When I toured the new housing with my advisee, there were no power doors at the entrance to the main office, despite being built in the 1990s. There are still no Braille signs for indoor walkways in the Spine, despite the efforts to improve "signage" on campus.

I am reminded of the Joe Simon song from the 1960s, "Walk a Mile in My Shoes." In this case, it would be a real learning experience for administrative leadership to spend a few days in a power wheelchair or as a blind student traversing campus—in fact, to save money, I'll be happy to volunteer to push the wheelchair. I suggest the tour when there is a foot of snow on the ground, or during summer construction when ramps are blocked so that there is no access to wheelchair-accessible walkways. Productive learning time can be spent trying to enter classrooms and using inaccessible bathrooms on campus.

It would be more efficient and of higher quality to use and pay for the expertise on campus. We also should take the time to properly engage the enthusiasm of a growing number of students who must, by their circumstances, be activists to accomplish the most normal aspects of their education. The present state of UB's accessibility is poor. We must set a priority to improve it.

Joseph A. Gardella, Jr.
Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean for External Affairs
College of Arts and Sciences