Committed to “excellence through equity in universal accessibility,” the Faculty of Physical Education and Health recently published a five-year roadmap on accessibility.
A Report on Universal Accessibility lays out 19 recommendations offering directions and principles for the faculty before it meets with the Budget Committee this fall. Accessibility awareness training for faculty and staff, recruiting of disabled people, and a reassessment of curriculum practices are only some of the recommendations. The report is currently in discussion.
“We’re committed to [equity]…to the best of our ability. And this report was written with that in mind,” said Bruce Kidd, dean of the FPEH.
The report also asks for automatic doors for AC entrances and equipment to support wheelchair basketball. The early years of the proposed timeline, however, are heavy in planning and development. Major physical renovations to Varsity Arena and the AC will not happen until year four or five at the earliest.
A $100,000 budget is being requested to fund the recommendations. Given that a late 90’s audit of these same athletic facilities set renovations at $15 million-a report that has since been shelved-it is hard to see how updates will go beyond wheelchair ramps and refitted door-handles.
“Even a commitment of $100,000 a year will be a stretch. Hopefully, after people swallow hard, they will agree with it, but we’re going to have to find the money,” said Kidd.
Tuition raises and levies are possibilities for the faculty. “It’s not out of the question,” Kidd responded when asked about using students as a financial source. Past levy failures loom large for the Dean, however, who maintained that it was too early to tell if such measures would be necessary.
The language of the report is high on commitment but vague on implementation. Student leaders worry the report will hit the dust-bin like many before it.
“We’ve had a slew of documents come out of the university in regards to barrier-free access,” said Julia Munk, vp equity at SAC, and chair of Students For Barrier Free Access. “But often policy papers and documents that are put together never get things accomplished.”
Kidd attributes the faculty’s inaction to a lack of funds. “There’s been no money. We’ve been woefully under-funded as a university and as a faculty for a very, very long time.”
Munk questions that claim. “When they’re renovating King’s College Road to have cobble stones, but can’t have more ramps on buildings or buttons on buildings, then there’s a real problem in priority level,” she reasoned.
The faculty also commissioned an Accessibility Audit in June, published as Appendix I of the report. The audit is a checklist of identified barriers at the Athletic Centre, Varsity Arena and Field and the Back and Front Campus Fields. Narrow corridors, “dangerously steep” ramps, and inaccessible washrooms enumerated in the audit make painfully clear the backlog.
The Clara Benson Wing of the AC stands out. Originally built in the 1950s, it lacks an elevator, making third-floor classes and offices inaccessible except by stairs. The faculty has been lobbying for an elevator for over a decade.
“This has been an issue with us for a very, very long time,” said Kidd, who does not expect the elevator to be built any time soon, barring a sizable increase in the $100,000 being requested.
