His worst enemy is ice.
When Stephen Wright walks to class, he carefully maneuvers his four-wheel walker to keep from slipping on icy sidewalks. He moves cautiously, but snow piles on curbs and crosswalks still slow him down.
"I set my alarm a few minutes early in the morning, but still some of the pathways are not accessible," said Wright, a second-year MSU College of Law student with cerebral palsy.
His complaints are echoed by many students with disabilities.
And as MSU makes improvements to buildings and roads, they want administrators to pay close attention to accessibility issues — such as clearing snow from sidewalks.
For the most part, some say, the university does a good job meeting their needs. "The vast majority of campus I feel is accessible to me," Wright said.
Still, problem areas exist.
The university's response
MSU tries to be sensitive to accessibility issues faced by students with disabilities in the winter, said Bill Latta, director of Facilities Planning and Space Management. But ground crews might sometimes miss icy patches on sidewalks and roads, he added.
MSU has developed a constant snow-monitoring system that has students with disabilities in mind, said Steve Frank, who coordinates MSU's landscape services. Forty-five people are on the university's snow removal crew, dedicated to clearing the 140-mile web of sidewalks that connect campus, he said.
They begin work as early as 2 a.m. after nights of heavy snow, focusing first on main walkways in front of residence halls, academic buildings and bus stops, he said.
If students encounter snow or ice spots on campus, Latta urged them to contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities in Bessey Hall. There, complaints go straight to landscape services, which tries to respond within 45 minutes by clearing the ice or snow.
For Karey Osadchuk, a family community services senior, lack of handicap parking spaces is her No. 1 concern. She has fibromyalgia, a condition that causes chronic joint and muscle fatigue.
"It would be so much easier to get a parking spot right outside my class," Osadchuk said.
Parking a few buildings away from class may not seem that bad to some people, Oshe said. But for people with disabilities, not having to walk those couple of steps saves time. Last fall, Osadchuk worked as an intern at the Resource Center. She would park in one of the three handicap spots there. If those spots weren't available, she'd park at Kedzie Hall or the Music Practice Building.
She said she wouldn't leave work for lunch in fear of losing her spot.
Latta said MSU created about 380 new spaces across campus with barrier-free parking during the summers of 2005 and 2006. But students complained that some of the added parking isn't centrally located, such as at Williams Hall.
Housing
Whenever the university makes building renovations — Snyder and Phillips halls and University Village apartments, for example — one of the goals is to also make them accessible.
Both buildings and the complex will open in the fall. It will be the first time students will have accessible living options on north campus, said Val Erwin, the Student Assembly representative for the Council for Students with Disabilities.
Eight units will be fully accessible at University Village, said Sharri Margraves, MSU's Housing and Food Services construction and maintenance manager.
"On top of that, all the buildings have elevators, so someone in a wheelchair could go and visit friends in other buildings," Margraves said.
Van Hoosen, Wilson, Holmes and Case halls are the four dorms fully accessible to students with disabilities — rooms have wide doorways, lowered countertops and a 5-foot radius inside for wheelchairs.
One place MSU might begin to make modifications is in laundry rooms. Joe Appelget, an assistant technology specialist who works at the Resource Center, is finding ways to make washers and dryers accessible.
"I am personally working on changing university policy to eventually cease the existence of top-load washing machines on campus," said Appelget, who uses a wheelchair. "People in chairs can't use them because they can't reach the bottom of the tub."
The next residence halls to undergo renovations are Mayo Hall and throughout Brody Complex, Margraves said. Construction will begin in 2008 for Mayo Hall, and Brody Complex changes are still in the planning stages. Also, public bathrooms in Hubbard Hall will become accessible during the summers of 2007 and 2008.
Administrators also are in the planning stages for renovations of nonaccessible buildings — the Old Botany Building, Chittenden Hall, Cook Hall and the Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Building. Those improvements will be paid for with private donations.
Ramps
Latta said it is important to give students with disabilities the same access as everyone else.
In the last seven to 10 years, MSU built ramps at the International Center, MSU Museum and IM Sports-West, he said.
"When you look at the front of the building, it looks as if it was always there," Latta said about ramp at IM Sports-West. "The ramp fits with the architecture of the building."
Joanne Johnson, a psychology senior with cerebral palsy, said she "likes that they have ramps or elevators in almost all the buildings."
But, Johnson said, the university should have more railings on stairs so students don't lose their balance. Sometimes, it is quicker for her to go up the stairs than find an elevator.
Still, many students are satisfied with MSU's accessibility.
Wright said he came to MSU because he thought it was the most accessible university in Michigan.
"It may take me longer to get to certain places than some other people," he said.
"But that is only because of my mobility issues, not because there is anything blocking my way."
