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The Daily OrangeSU advocates for disability minor, accommodations
By Amity Paye
Posted: 2/19/09, 5:15 AM EST Section: News
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Ben-Moshe uses a wheelchair. The doctoral student and instructor in sociology and disabilities studies said she finds certain buildings like Carnegie Hall difficult to navigate and that it should be made completely wheelchair accessible.
The difficulties Ben-Moshe encounters reflect broader problems people with disabilities on campus face.
Some of Syracuse University's buildings currently do not comply with the American Disabilities Act, according to the university's Accessibility Map on the SU Web site.
The act states, "At least one accessible route… shall connect accessible building or facility entrances with all accessible spaces and elements within the building or facility."
Ben-Moshe, who has been at SU for seven years, said Syracuse's heavy snowfall contributes to the campus' accessibility issues, as well. During her time here, she has served on multiple committees to help create a more responsive campus for people with disabilities. While she said SU has come far in the years she has been here, she said there is much more work to be done.
Multiple groups on campus are currently working to make this change.
The Chancellor's Task Force on Disability, the Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee and the Office for Disabilities Services are working to make SU an inclusive environment for people with disabilities.
The Chancellor's Task Force on Disability began in 2005.
The task force and BCCC are making recommendations for the buildings to comply with this act.
While there is an explanatory accessibility map available on SU's Web site, it is not comprehensive and many buildings, including Haven Hall -- which is accessible to people with physical disabilities -- are not marked.
The goal of organizations like BCCC and the Chancellor's Task Force is to improve the accessibility problem on campus.
One of BCCC's recommendations is the creation of an undergraduate disabilities studies program.
Arlene Kanter, co-director of the Chancellor's Task Force on Disability, said that the task force met with the chancellor's cabinet last month to make a series of recommendations regarding disabilities at SU. But while the task force develops and advocates for their recommendations, it is still up to the chancellor's cabinet to figure out how to implement them.
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