Disability Services strives to make Homewood accessible

The next time you complain about how hard it is to get from the Lower Quad to Bloomberg Hall in under ten minutes, or how it's hard for you to understand what your professor is talking about, try considering the responsibility that Peggy Hayeslip faces on a day-to-day basis.

Hayeslip is the Associate Director for Disability Services at Hopkins, and no matter how many free bricks the school gets from its beloved anonymous donor, making the school comply with federal standards is still tough work.

Hayeslip's main responsibility is to make life easier for the 99 Hopkins students who have filled out the appropriate paperwork and identified themselves as disabled. The term "disabled" encompasses a number of conditions, and refers to students who are confined to wheelchairs, students who are deaf or blind, students who have learning disorders, as well as students who have other physical or mental conditions that impair their ability to learn.

According to the office's Web site, http://www.jhuaa.org/DSS/, one of the main roles of Disability Services is to "[Assist] the University in compliance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973." Both acts provide federal regulations preventing discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

Though most students probably take it for granted, Hopkins can be a difficult place to live if you're confined to a wheelchair.

"I'm very glad to be here, and I look forward to the new improvements, but right now it's difficult," said freshman Sofija Korac, who was born with a physical disability that requires the use of a wheelchair.

The most notable recent improvement has been the installation of an elevator in the library to provide access to Q-Level from Charles Street.

As the elevator is brand new, it has yet to pass inspection. Until it does so Korac is forced to have a security guard let her into a service elevator, which in turn requires the guard to find someone to cover his or her shift.

"I'd like to be able to go to the library on my own time whether it was for ten minutes to check out a book or three hours to study for a midterm," Korac said. Though all of the newer buildings on campus, including Hodson Hall and Clark Hall, are compliant with the ADA regulations, Disability Services has been hard at work updating the older buildings. One of Hayeslip's current projects is the installation of automatic doors at the entrance to Garland Hall, which she anticipates will be complete by November of 2003.

Hayeslip also notes that the new brick walkways have made traveling for wheelchair-bound students a lot more efficient.

The biggest problem encountered so far in getting Hopkins to comply with all regulations has been to make the transition area between the Lower and Upper Quads wheelchair accessible.

Though for most people this simply involves walking down the steps by the Breezeway, for students in wheelchairs, it either requires either using the Gilman Tunnel or going around Charles Street to Art Museum Drive.

"There is an elevator in Ames Hall that makes the whole process very easy, but for security reasons, they don't allow access to the elevator after 5 p.m. or at all on weekends, and unfortunately they can't give me a key," Korac said. "I just end up not going to the Lower Quad as much as I'd like."

"That is a problem. We're definitely working on that," Hayeslip agreed.

In order to be officially identified as being disabled, a student needs to submit the appropriate paper work to Richard Sanders, the Associate Director of Academic Advising. Sanders can then help them by providing letters to their professors, as well as necessities such as reading machines, interpreters, and FM hearing systems. He also meets with different departments to talk to faculty members about how they can further accommodate for students with disabilities.

"In addition to the physical changes on campus, we need to make students aware that these services exist," said Sanders.

Sanders urges any students who feel that they need assistance to contact him. He can be reached through the Office of Academic Advising at (410) 516-8216, or by e-mail at Sanders@jhu.edu.