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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Michael Omenazu
Staff Writer
Monday, April 7, marked the start of UIS’ annual Disability Awareness Week, a culmination of various activities intended on giving people a better insight into the lives of people with disabilities. These events include a wheelchair race, video presentations and comedy routines. However, on that day there was an unplanned incident that is drawing just as much attention to the disabled community of UIS.
At about 9:15 on Monday, Curt Meyer, an English teacher limited to his wheelchair, was in his office when a fire alarm went off in University Hall Building.
Unaware of the fire drill, Meyer, with Marcel Yoder’s assistance, used his forearms to crawl down three flights of stairs.
After his experience Meyer immediately called the Office of Disability Services, who then informed him that he should have registered with ODS for a specific plan of evacuation, a plan that consists of the police knowing his location at all times.
The notion of needing to register for such a contingency plan is an unfamiliar concept to Meyer. He has never needed to do so at other universities as “ODS and the police are not involved in the response plan.”
Meyer also finds various problems associated with these arrangements as it takes away certain freedoms from disabled students who are limited in the times they are able to visit certain buildings. In response he asked, “What happens if a student with a disability has an appointment with a teacher and is on a higher floor when the alarm goes off?”
Meyer also thinks he benefited from the timing of the alarm, contemplating the possibility of the alarm going off an hour later, at 10:15 when the University Hall Building has a higher number of occupants. Meyer said that, “It would have been way worse and this is just another example of UIS’ negligence concerning disability issues.”
Meyer thinks that if the police take a prominent role in emergency/evacuation responses “Officers must be trained in transporting individuals in and from chairs. Also, since individuals are different they must know the personnel they are dealing with.”
It has been his experience that “The police are less than understanding and this is an issue that needs further investigation for students, staff and visitors with disabilities as the next time the outcome could be tragic.”
Meyer’s call for to action has been returned by UIS administration, specifically spearheaded by the Chancellor. Upon learning of this incident, Chancellor Ringeisen immediately contacted Curt to apologize on behalf of him and the university, assuring him that it was a problem he planned to fix. Cheryl Peck, spokesperson, describes the incident as “A very unfortunate issue and quite disturbing.”
Peck continued by saying that “It raises questions, such as how can we better serve the needs of our disabled faculty and students? How can the university make the current plans in place more effective?”
The current proposal is for a “buddy system,” which is an arrangement in which disabled individuals have a buddy or buddies to assist them in case of an emergency. Also, the police have registered schedules and they are open to be contacted.
Peck thinks that this can be upgraded. “Cooperation between UIS police and ODS specifically addresses what to do. However, it requires people to know about it and thus it is the responsibility of the university to make these plans more visible.”
This idea has already been implemented in various ways such as regular e-mails ODS sends out. It can also be built upon through new channels of communication such as campus television, campus radio and the opportunities presented at orientations.
“We ask people to fill out an emergency evacuation form with a rough idea of their schedule and permission this with the police,” notes Susy Woods, Visiting Director of the Office of Disability Services. “We have added this form to our website to make it easier for people to access.”
“It is also possible to fill out this form for us to have in our files without actually being registered with our office,” Woods added. “There are people on campus who need no services from our office but who chose to do this.”
Peck deems these events as very unfortunate yet believes positives can be derived. “It is not a time to cast blame rather a time to pause. It is time to put effort to better inform people by improving lines of communication. This is a wake-up call and the university will take action.”
