A Carleton student’s petition to make campus more accessible may push the housing department to change how it deals with broken elevators.
First-year journalism student Nathan Bragg met with Carleton’s housing department to discuss his concerns with accessibility on campus.
Bragg uses a wheelchair and needs the elevator in Stormont residence building to get to places like the dining hall.
He said the elevator would break down several times a week.
“It’s been down since January, anywhere from three and five days a week,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll fix it and hours later it breaks down.”
Bragg has cerebral palsy, and has some mobility in his legs. He can crawl up and down stairs with the help of a friend.
“I plan my routes and where I’m going based upon accessibility. Whenever there’s a disruption in that, if it’s a surprise it can cause you to be late, it can cause you to miss things all together,” he said.
Bragg said the department is looking at not putting students with disabilities in Stormont, and using some of the accessible units in Glengarry, but that depends on how many disabled students apply for residence.
Housing director David Sterritt said the department is looking to improve communications about such critical issues as elevator malfunction.
They need to keep students with disabilities better informed about elevator service problems in residence, he said.
“We are doing everything possible to remedy the situation,” Sterritt said. “We’re continuing to work with the elevator maintenance company to get the problem resolved.”
There is an email notification system for when elevators break down in academic buildings. Sterritt said a similar system will be put in place for residence elevators.
“I firmly believe that we have the most accessible [buildings] on campus,” he said.
“We just need to do better at communicating when occasional issues arise so that students who are the most affected by broken elevators can know beforehand.”
Bragg started his petition on March 20 when he found out he would be living in Stormont again next year.
He said he had over 500 signatures a week later.
Bragg said he is pleased with the meeting, and hopes next year the department will communicate with students better when an elevator breaks down.
“In a lot of ways, I got what I wanted to hear. They understood that there are issues. They are treating them seriously now,” he said.
