A group of University of Wisconsin students and faculty are concerned over a lack of inclusiveness of the disabled community in decision-making at the Natatorium.
During a recent meeting at the Natatorium, participants in an adaptive fitness class taught through the UW kinesiology department said a back entrance to the building has been locked since Aug. 1, and building managers have discussed the possibility of closing the parking lot where most of the class attendees normally park.
The back door, normally used by disabled students to come into the building to attend the class, is being locked outside class hours and those disabled people coming to the Nat need to find alternative ways to get into the building.
“The biggest problem is the lack of being included and welcomed into the Nat as a regular patron,” said Monica KamalRossa, a staff informational processing consultant at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and UW guest student, who attends the adaptive fitness class on a regular basis. “We have to call someone to let us in if we’re not coming during class.”
KamalRossa said building administration has been talking about the possibility of moving the back parking lot — which is free to patients attending the class — forcing students to park in a front parking lot.
Each student would be charged nearly $454 per year to park in this other lot, KamalRossa said.
“A lot of the people in this class have ramp vans, and those vans need eight feet of space on their side,” said UW engineering physics professor Noah Hershkowitz, who also attends the class. “Even in the metered spaces, you can park there, but you can’t use them.”
UW recreational sports director Dale Carruthers said the back door has been locked due to security reasons, and because there was an increasing number of people entering the building without having their IDs checked, and, therefore, using the facilities without paying the appropriate segregated fees.
“Unfortunately, we’re not in a situation in which we can have an entrance without an individual checking IDs,” Carruthers said, adding it costs about $50,000 a year to staff students to check identification cards at the Nat door.
KamalRossa also said students are concerned with the lack of disabled-focused programming provided by the recreational sports department.
Carruthers said recreational sports deals with each situation individually, and has not received any requests to increase accessibility in the department’s activities.
“If someone comes in and says, ‘I need this treadmill,’ it could be a $12,000 piece of equipment. We may or may not be able to accommodate the suggestion,” Carruthers said. “It’s really no different than other suggestions coming from anybody — we have limited resources, and we just deal with each request individually.”
UW kinesiology, recreational sports and transportation department representatives have said to be meeting sometime in the upcoming two weeks to discuss the issue, according to Carruthers. More options for the placement of the disabled parking lot will be discussed at the meeting.
“It looks like some people are starting to at least start consider our opinions,” KamalRossa said. “[But] I still have to call to get in.”
