A piece of detached yellow material nearly knocked me off my feet last week. As I strolled past Mendocino Hall, I stumbled over a broken piece of one of the many yellow guide strips around campus that are used to help blind students find their way to various buildings around Sacramento State.

I began to wonder how accessible our campus is for disabled students, especially if accommodating items such as guide strips are insufficient, causing more of a hazard than actually helping. As I wandered around campus, I noticed many of the guide strips had missing or detached pieces. I knew I had to seek official expertise. “The ones that are presenting a hazard, that are lying loose, we try to get to those as soon as possible,” said Robin Lovring, manager of Project Design and Development of Sac State’s Facilities Services. “It’s easy to respond to the problems, but trying to get out there before (they happen) is tough.” But why are the pieces allowed to sit for as long as they do? Why are there several guide strips around campus with chunks missing from them? Lovring said the answer to those questions have a lot to do with funding and the availability of unobstructed time. The guide strips are not cheap and funding was used for other pressing accommodation issues last year, Lovring said. The funding comes to Sac State annually from the California State University Chancellor’s office. The main fund is called Minor Capital Outlay and usually ranges anywhere from $600,000 to $900,000. Twenty percent of that fund – about $120,000 to $180,000 – is used for barrier removal on campus. This is the amount that is put toward repairing items such as guide strips, installing ramps and automatic doors, and implementing new signage. However, Lovring said last year’s funding wasn’t enough to focus on the guide strips, but with a bigger budget this year, Facilities Services is hoping to fix all broken guide strips during winter or summer break. Weather is another problem that may slow down this process, said Eugene Lozano, Jr., disability management counselor and access specialist of the Services to Students with Disabilities office, who came up with the idea of putting guide strips on campus. “If it rains for long periods of time?the pavement has to dry out,” he said. “A lot of the times in the winter, they just can’t do it. That’s the only thing I see that can hold it up.” Lozano said past issues have had a negative effect on the guide strips. “I am troubled by the fact that we haven’t been able to maintain them?but a lot has been due to construction on campus,” he said, adding that construction vehicles often tear up the strips when sewer and steam lines are being worked on and contractors don’t always fix the pieces they destroy in the process. Lozano said these missing chunks of guide strips have not had a very negative effect on disabled students. “The feedback I’m getting from students is that they’re still able to get around,” he said, mentioning one new graduate student in particular who is thrilled that the campus has guide strips at all. These helpful tools are not required by law, Lozano said. He said he is proud to have them here. So, how is accessibility to disabled students overall? Lozano said it is more than adequate. “We are probably doing a lot better than many other campuses,” he said. “Almost every building has an electric door – that’s not required by law. Almost all of our bathrooms are accessible.” However, Lozano said he wishes more uniform accessibility within all the entities that exist across campus, such as University Enterprises, Inc. and the Hornet Bookstore, were available. He also said there will be a call for even more refined accessibility in the future. “There’s a commitment to provide access, and I think the campus is aware that there will be a lot of disabled students coming to campus, because of the war in Iraq,” he said. “That’s another reason we need to ensure that we have as much access as possible.” So, why do some buildings on campus seem a bit out of date when it comes to accommodations?

Lozano said law does not require buildings that were constructed before recent accommodation codes (such as the buildings that have been here since the campus opened) to upgrade to new accessibility regulations. When old buildings are being renovated for a different reason, new accommodations codes must be implemented as well. Students have different reactions when it comes to accessibility on campus. Senior liberal studies major Megan Ward said she obtained negative information in one of her classes. “In my Special Education for Exceptional Youth class?we were given a checklist of accommodations and asked to look around the campus to see if the buildings are accessible,” she said. “We found a lot of contradictions?” Ward’s checklist included items such as handrails in toilet stalls, heights of mirrors, and whether or not water fountains were offered that could be operated by both hands and feet. Ward found disparities with all of these items. Still, Terry Farmer, a student who uses a motorized wheel chair, said he finds the accommodations for the disabled on campus to be more than adequate. He said the walkways are clear, the electronic doors are helpful, and that employees in the food services ensure that he gets good service.

There are small things he would like to change. “The bathroom in Mariposa Hall?the one soap dispenser is way up (on the wall),” he said. “Those little petty aggravations get to you.”

Bridget Jones can be reached at [email protected]