Carleton is known as one of the most accessible campuses in Canada, which is why many students with disabilities specifically choose our school. Though it’s nice to say we are accessible on paper, it’s a different thing to actually follow through.
If able-bodied students take a look around campus, or ask fellow students who have disabilities, they will see that our campus is far from accessible. We need to challenge the ableism on our campus. A disability does not necessarily mean someone in a wheelchair. Many disabilities are not even visible.
For a university hailed as being accessible, we have a lot to improve upon. Several old buildings, such as Renfrew and Lanark residences, do not even have an elevator. Even worse, brand new buildings, such as River, are missing simple things like buttons to open doors. The new Lennox and Addington residence has a single flight of steps on the accessibility floor that requires students to take an elevator just to get to the tunnels. All of these flaws could have easily been avoided in design and construction. Having a new building with inaccessible flaws is just unacceptable.
There are numerous cost-effective ways to make our campus more accessible, such as installing more automatic doors, adding railings, putting up braille signs, or placing accessibility maps around campus. And if old buildings need to be retrofitted, this should be done, no matter what the cost.
Carleton has made improvements. Southam Hall has a new elevator and our library will be more accessible after construction. Great work is being done by organizations like the Paul Menton Centre and the Carleton Disability Awareness Centre.
It’s up to everyone on this campus, both those with and without disabilities, to pressure Carleton to make accessibility a priority, no matter the cost. θ
