NIU continues to pursue greater compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ADA, introduced in 1992, as well as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, were enacted by Congress to prevent discrimination by employers against people with disabilities. The acts promote freedom to access public spaces, businesses and college facilities.

ACCESSIBILITY IN CAMPUS BUILDINGS AND RESIDENCE HALLS

There are a several buildings on campus that are not fully accessible to some individuals with disabilities, said Nancy Kasinski, director of the Center for Access-Ability Resources.

One main building that Kasinski believes is most inaccessible is Still Hall and Gym. If a student is assigned a class to that building, they can use the CAAR office, which provides support services to students, faculty and staff with disabilities, to switch to another building, she said.

In the residence halls, the recent renovations made to Stevenson Towers made those buildings very accessible, Kasinski said; on the flip side, Lincoln and Douglas halls are currently not very accessible. There are only a few floors in Neptune that are accessible, and Grant Towers are expected to be more accommodating after renovations are made, Kasinski said.

Though NIU has improved its accessibility over the years, there is still work to be done, Kasinski said.

“When it comes to physical accessibilities, NIU has made great strides since the late 1970s in making the campus more accommodating,” Kasinski said. “But, most of the framework that was done to many campus buildings were made way before everyone thought about accessibility.”

Greg Long, a communicative disorders professor, does not believe it would be feasible for NIU to make the campus fully accessible.

“It would basically require that every building on campus be knocked down and replaced by buildings which would have all the necessary features. It’s just not a logical thing to do,” Long said. “Many campuses across the country are in the same state as us. The goal for NIU isn’t to make a fully accessible campus, but to do meet the needs of everyone, as best as possible, with what’s available.”

Robert Albanese, associate vice president of Finance and Facilities-Operations, said NIU keeps accessibility laws in mind when making alterations to campus buildings.

“We have protocols for all the projects we do on campus and we incorporate accessibility into these projects,” Albanese said. “We continually look at the legal requirements just so things are up to date on campus when we fix something.”

CLASSROOM OBSTACLES

Helping those who are deaf or have partial hearing loss is NIU’s greatest strength, Long said. NIU was nominated in March as Best College for the 2007 Deaf Illinois Awards. Despite its accolades, the university still needs to make greater strides in terms of the technology provided, Long said.

Kasinski thinks NIU is making progress in the area of technological accessibility.

“Technology has a lot of barriers, but that’s something NIU has been working to correct,” Kasinski said. “ITS has made all of the computer labs available to everyone and always doing what they can to accommodate everyone that uses them.”

Blackboard and PDF files cause the most trouble for individuals, in particular those who cannot see the computer screen well, Long said. Speech software is unable to read these programs, as PDF files are picture documents. Also, many students have difficulty with having closed-captioning made available when films are shown during class.

Gaylen Kapperman, a professor for the department of teaching and learning who is also blind, believes NIU has done an acceptable job of providing accessibility on campus.

“I feel that NIU has so far done a good job with making the campus accessible to all students,” Kapperman said. “I haven’t received that many complaints.”

Ultimately, whether or not student’s needs are met can come down to the professor’s willingness to provide it, Kasinski said.

“NIU has always had the philosophy that all units on campus have the responsibility to make everything assessable to everyone,” Kasinski said. “Students rely on the willingness of NIU faculty to accommodate them by a variety of media.”