Accessibility on Campus
Disability Awareness and Accessibility for Blind People On Campus
By: Olivia Hines
“This world isn’t built for blind people,” stated Joshua Olukanni. With the University of Minnesota’s diverse student body and emphasis on inclusion, you would believe accessibility for individuals with disabilities would be a given. However, when accommodations are provided, despite how much is right, there are still many things wrong.
Disability Resource Center
The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is devoted to equitable access to academics and campus life. Located on the University of Minnesota campus, it offers resources, accommodations, adaptations, and universal design support for people with disabilities. One of the main resources provided at the DRC is Access Assistants (AAs). The center’s mission statement is All A’s: Able, Aware, Accessible.
Understanding the mission and purpose of the DRC, I wanted to know: Has the DRC been effective in providing accessibility for the campus’s blind community? And how has the campus been, and not been, accommodating?
To uncover whether the University of Minnesota was accommodating to disabled individuals, particularly within the blind community, I interviewed three individuals; Joshua Olukanni (19), Anja Swenson (19), and Benjamin Zheng (20). All three individuals are legally blind and live in Comstock Hall. They are first-year college students pursuing majors in psychology. Despite the similarities between them, they have completely different experiences.
Their Stories
Anja Swenson has a genetic condition called Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) that causes total blindness. When I asked her about her experience with the DRC and accessibility on campus, she explained that she’s had limited complications. She talked about how she’s had some wonderful experiences on campus and in the classroom. For example, materials for one of her courses weren’t accessible. She attended a zoom meeting to discuss the changes necessary to make the materials accessible, so she and her professor brainstormed a solution that worked.
Overall Anja’s experiences have been positive, however, she’s also experienced rather frustrating instances. Anja described how one professor removed her from a small group discussion because she didn’t have an AA available. Anja expressed her frustrations by explaining access assistants have lives outside of the classroom, and they are not always accessible. The purpose of an AA is to be a tool for blind students. They describe visuals, take notes, make previously inaccessible materials accessible, and provide outside classroom help to students if necessary. To remove her from a discussion only proceeds to inhibit her learning. A blatant display of ableism within the classroom.
She further explained how her blindness doesn’t make her incapable or dependent, and she can function normally without any difficulty in a small group discussion.
Joshua Olukanni reiterated the same message in our interview. He explained that when people learn you are totally blind they stop asking questions. They assume you aren’t capable of functioning independently.
Joshua has optic nerve atrophy, a genetic condition that prevented his optic nerves from fully developing. Though Joshua possesses some residual vision, he is legally blind. However, because of his residual vision, people ask questions about how much he can see and what he can do independently. For people who are totally blind like Benjamin Zheng and Anja Swenson, the conversation stops.
“All good things don’t get enough funding”
The lack of AAs has been detrimental to the academic success of blind students. At the beginning of the semester, AAs weren’t readily available and were too few in number. AAs are students assigned to disabled individuals to help with courses both in and out of the classroom. These assignments are decided by the AAs and students scheduling, and all AAs are on a rotation.
When I mentioned the lack of funding of the DRC to Anja Swenson, she sighed and said, “All good things don’t get enough funding.” Fellow student, Benjamin Zheng, shared the same sentiment.
Benjamin has optic nerve dystrophy that resulted from, as he cleverly says, “HD vision”. In a car crash two years ago, Benjamin was struck by a high and drunk driver going 40 miles per hour which left Benjamin permanently blind. When discussing the DRC Benjamin explained how his experience with accessibility and accommodations has been subpar.
At the beginning of the semester, he was only able to access materials for one course, received no AA assistance, and was forced to drop a class. When I asked if this experience prevented him from fully enjoying his college experience, he said, “ Seven out of ten. I enjoyed the bare minimum college experience. I have been unable to enjoy it because of lack of proper access.”
He stated that the DRC needs more funding and more manpower to properly accommodate blind people. A difficult, but necessary task.
Solving Inaccessibility
Anja, Joshua, and Benjamin all expressed neutral feelings towards accessibility on campus. They’ve all experienced negative and positive moments with the DRC. They expressed deep frustrations with the limited funding for DRC and the resulting lack of accommodations.
All three individuals are participants in Beautify Comstock, a student group started by Izzy Laderman. The group started last year, in the Fall of 2021, with the mission to beautify Comstock’s internal courtyard. Within the last few months, the group's mission has evolved. Now, the group holds Comstock accountable for its lack of accessibility for blind people residing in the building.
The student group has issued for better training among student workers in the dining hall to better accommodate disabled individuals, and for the application of braille labels in the dining hall on beverage machines, utensil canisters, and food labels, along with the placement of bump dots on the laundry room’s dryers and washing machines to improve accessibility.
Though the student group won’t fix all the problems associated with the lack of accessibility, especially throughout the entire campus, it is one step toward improvement. The majority of problems surrounding accommodations and accessibility need to be addressed by the DRC, which won’t happen until more funds are distributed towards the DRC. Establishing student groups, creating petitions and protests, and having discussions about accessibility are steps towards uprooting ableism. It’s important we help create a world to be built for blind people.