ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Compliance is the standards for accessible design passed by the Department of Justice in September 2010. These standards must be held at any commercial or public area. They are even starting up ways for compliances to be used on the Internet.
Southwestern Oklahoma State University has minimal ADA compliances. Yes, they do have handicap parking and ramps in the needed areas, but what about other disabilities that others may have, such as visual impairment.
I lived in Oklahoma Hall, one of the girls dorms at Southwestern, this past school year of 2015-2016, and the floors were not even marked with Braille. The doors were marked on by a marker and maybe even a photo. The only way one would know what floor they were on would be if their vision was not a problem. The doors to each room were not marked, either. The only way to navigate through the floors were if someone were to guide them, or if someone could read the sign. This is discouraging to students. Visual impaired students have learned certain ways to be independent, and when schools take away those resources, it can turn a student away instantly.
When walking to class, one could possibly trip on a curb for it is not highlighted in yellow, and even stairs throughout campus are not marked. Yes, some visually impaired have the use of their cane or even their sight dog, but others rely on the marking of curbs to get around.
With Weatherford being an older town, most of its activities are held on Main Street. Main Street has plenty of crosswalks with signs letting people know when it is safe to walk, but if a visually impaired individual was crossing the street, they would not know when it is safe because the signs do not have audio systems inside letting them know when the walk sign is on or even which street they are going to be crossing. These signs may seem weird and not necessary to those who have the use of their vision, but it has saved many accidents and lives dealing with the visually impaired just by putting speakers inside of these handy street signs.
Students with disabilities should not be limited to the schools they choose from because many schools are not ADA compliant. SWOSU is where "the focus is you." It should start by being about every student imaginable and not just those without disabilities. Disabilities do not bring people lower, it brings people to places and experiences they never imagined possible. Southwestern is a school everyone should be able to experience.
