By Masudur Rahman

Senior Reporter

Photo Credit: MASUDUR RAHMAN/ The Oakland Post

Barely a year since its founding, a new student organization is working towards making Oakland University more accessible for students with physical disabilities.

Students Toward Understanding Disabilities is doing this with the help of the OU administration and housing.

OU students Brian Wigman and Laura White founded the organization in October 2007. They said while they like the progress so far, there is still more to be done.

According to OU’s director of housing Lionel Maten, more things are being planned to make OU housing more accommodating.

White, STUD’s president, said one of their earliest achievements was the snow removal of campus sidewalks.

“There were days [in January 2008] when the snow [on the sidewalks] was so bad that Brian and I couldn’t get to class,” White said. “Students complained about it, and we talked to [the OU administration].”

She said the administration’s response was very good, and that after talking with staff in OU’s facilities management department, she noticed a “greater effort to get the shovel out and get the paths clean.”

Oakland Center because the snow has been shoveled from the sidewalks.

White and Wigman lived in the dorms before and currently live in the student apartments.

One thing they said is still problematic is the restrooms. They said that not all of them are accessible for people in wheelchairs but that the situation is much better than it was a year ago.

“Most of [the restroom problem] has been resolved,” White said. “But some haven’t because of money and sometimes because [the administration] said they can’t fix it at this time.”

Wigman said that none of the restrooms in Hill House, Van Wagoner and Fitzgerald are accessible to people in wheelchairs, and Maten confirmed this.

OU housing is an auxiliary, a private business separate from OU. Housing and STUD have kept up a dialogue since fall 2007. Maten said housing also consults with Linda Sissons,

the director of OU’s Disability Support Services and STUD’s advisor.

“The restrooms are definitely under consideration,” Maten said. “But we don’t know if it will be done over the next year, or the next few years.”

He said that money is a factor but not the only factor.

Housing has been made more handicap accessible with the addition of four automatic door openers to dorm hall entrances. Maten said a fifth automatic door opener is awaiting approval from the fire marshal.

STUD said they would like to get Braille signs to be added outside dorm rooms to help blind residents.

“They seemed very willing to help, but the price tag is kind of high,” White said. She said she had to get a corner room in the dorms because otherwise it would be hard for her to

find.

Maten said a compromise has been reached. A plan to add Braille signs to the stairwells and entrances of campus housing has been approved. He said that he received a $20,000 quote from a company and the funds are already allocated. Maten also said housing doesn’t have the financial means this year to add Braille signs on every door.

“In a perfect world, money wouldn’t be a problem,” White said. “But we’ll keep giving them suggestions that won’t cost $1 million dollars … to make the campus as accessible as it can be.”