Raising Awareness of Disability Issues at the University of Kansas

KU on Wheels program ignores plight of disabled
Dot Nary
Published: Monday, March 7, 2005
Read the article at Kansan.com

Dot Nary

It is important that the entire University of Kansas community understand the context of student transportation on this campus.

A portion of student fees is used to fund student transportation. Part of the student transportation fund provides ambulatory students with a fairly adequate transportation system through KU on Wheels.

Unfortunately, students with mobility issues, such as wheelchair users, are provided only limited services to get to and from academic events. In other words, a line of funding that most students pay for is used to fund a higher level of service to one group of students and a lower level of service to another group.

While one group of students is asked to provide feedback on the bus routes they would like to access through KU on Wheels, the other group is told to expect little more than rides to and from classes.

Transportation to the recreation center for exercise, to the Lied Center for a concert or to Allen Fieldhouse for a basketball game, is unlikely, if not impossible, for students with disabilities to obtain through the student transportation system.

And, especially at this time of year, who would want to deny any student the excitement of Jayhawk basketball?

In fact, it is doubtful that students needing accessible transportation could get to the Kansas Union for a transportation board meeting to protest this inequity in service. For other oppressed groups, a situation like this is called separate and unequal. For students with disabilities at the University, it is called "not enough funds."

Why? There are transportation funds available but they are simply not allocated with consideration of the needs of all students.

I believe that many KU on Wheels users who believe in justice and fairness would be disturbed to know that the services they receive are not equally available to their peers with disabilities. Similarly, many students would be surprised to discover that, on numerous other U.S. campuses, transportation services are integrated and equitable, and that students with disabilities are full campus participants. Anyone who believes that transportation to participate in the rich campus life available at the University should be equally available to all students should be asking questions.

Why don't University students with disabilities have equal transportation?

Why did KU on Wheels recently renew a contract with a provider that refuses to comply with a federal mandate to replace older inaccessible buses with accessible ones?

Why is this situation allowed to continue 15 years after the passage of legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects the rights of citizens with disabilities?

Finally, it is not entirely correct to frame this issue as "students doing the best they can to provide services with limited funding."

Students learning valuable administration and management skills as they organize transportation services on this campus are guided in their decision-making.

And the guidance they are currently receiving provides a dangerous lesson - that instead of dividing resources equitably, it is acceptable to discriminate and to more fully meet the needs of one group at the expense of another.

Unfortunately, this lesson is not likely to serve these students well in their post-collegiate careers when they will need to apply their skills in an increasingly diverse society.

Those responsible for guiding students who manage transportation services should reconsider the lesson they are teaching. Those who can intervene to provide more equitable services now, and to begin building an integrated service, should do so immediately.

This University can and should do better for all students. By providing equitable transportation as a model of how those in management positions should allocate funds and services, the University both can better serve the entire student body and equip its future alumni for success.

F Nary is a Lawrence graduate student in applied behavioral sciences.