When I walked out of Proctor after a satisfying Monday lunch, I immediately regretted eating the chocolate chip cookie I had just finished. In the lobby I was greeted by trays of monstrous, chocolate frosted cookies, which, upon a second glance, were decorated with wheelchairs. Excited by the possibility of a second dessert, I stopped at the table. Todd Falcone '03.5 and Jason Fleishman '03.5, two students seated at the table, eagerly offered me a cookie and an explanation of why exactly they were distributing frosted wheelchair cookies.
The wheelchair cookies, offered at Ross and Proctor at lunchtime on Monday, marked the beginning of Middlebury's second annual Accessibility Awareness Week, entitled, "Look at the Possibilities..."
Accessibility Awareness Week was conceptualized last fall in Assistant Professor of Biology David Parfitt's neuroscience seminar "Neural Disorders: Individuals, Families and Society." As the students learned about the neurological bases of a variety of disorders, they also began to consider the difficulty of living with a debilitating illness. From their discussions evolved the idea of a week-long forum on issues of handicapped accessibility on campus.
Says Kate Stamper '04, member of Parfitt's course and one of the organizers of this year's Accessibility Awareness Week: "Basically, we wanted to raise awareness on campus, to encourage able students to consider what it might be like to navigate Middlebury's campus on a inclement winter day. The idea of a weeklong forum fell out of the idea that maybe we could teach people about accessibility through personal experience."
"Midd Accessibility: It's an uphill battle," as last year's forum was titled, included extensive publicity, film showings and a panel discussion involving local residents and two Middlebury students who use wheelchairs. The culmination of the week, perhaps the most visible manifestation of the forum, was Wheelchair for a Day, when almost 40 students had the opportunity to be a wheelchair bound for a day.
This year's forum follows a similar format, further emphasizing the impressive accomplishments of people with disabilities in addition to the constant battle of accessibility.
Films shown this week included "A New Sense of Place" on Monday night, "Without Barriers or Borders" on Tuesday night and "No Barriers: The Mark Wellman Story" on Wednesday night. Each of the movies highlighted extraordinary individuals who had overcome adversity - a talented deaf percussionist, a blind photographer, a paraplegic who skis cross-country in the Sierras.
Similar to last year, a panel lunch discussion will be held today in BiHall 220 at 12:30 p.m. The panel will be include Middlebury College ADA Coordinator Jodi Litchfield and ADA consultant Jim Ross, a representative from Elderly Services/Project Independence and Rose Hotte, a Vergennes woman with multiple sclerosis.
Thursday will mark the end of "Look at the Possibilities..." as interested students set out to conquer campus in a wheelchair for a day.
Though there are no wheelchair-bound students currently at Middlebury, accessibility is still an important concern. Stamper pointed to the fact that disabled students interested in coming to Middlebury may be deterred by the overall inaccessibility of the campus itself.
She affirmed, "Middlebury is a wonderful place to be - anyone who chooses should be able to take advantage of what it has to offer. One's disability should not be a restraining factor."
Stamper also emphasized the importance of making accessibility a priority as the campus is expanding on a variety of fronts. "Accessibility needs to be common sense, an automatic consideration when designing a space. Too often it is a mere afterthought."
When you notice wheelchair-for-a-day participants on Thursday, take a minute to imagine how your life as a Middlebury student would change if you were confined to one yourself. Forget running up stairs when you're late for your class on the fourth floor of Munroe, reconsider navigating Ross at dinnertime when there's turkey on the menu, think about what you might do out on a typical Saturday night - simple tasks we all take for granted are suddenly huge concerns. Accessibility is a very real issue, even in our beloved bubble.
Written by GRACE KRONENBERG
