Cristina Murdick
Project Description:
For my final project I created a podcast with the purpose of exploring public thoughts on the accessibility of the University of Michigan campus. I spoke on the podcast by myself, offering a brief overview of the topic and what I was addressing in the podcast. I was able to get some student volunteers, all from different majors and backgrounds, to participate in a brief interview with me. I asked the students about their experiences with accessibility on campus as well as with housing. It was interesting to be able to see what these students had to say about access when put on the spot. I wanted to do a project where I was able to interact with other students because I think my thoughts alone would have been very much informed by this class so I wanted to get some perspectives of students who have never taken this class and maybe have never even deeply thought about accessibility before.
Podcast:
Transcription:
Hello everyone! This is Cristina Murdick, Sophomore Communications Major, Digital Studies Minor, and Ross Cappo Sales Track minor. Welcome to my podcast today, where we will be exploring accessibility on the University of Michigan Campus. Accessibility on a college campus is crucial because it ensures that all students, regardless of their physical abilities or disabilities, have equal opportunities to learn and participate fully in academic and social life. A campus that is accessible benefits not only students with disabilities but also faculty, staff, and visitors who may have mobility impairments, visual or hearing impairments, or other accessibility needs. It promotes inclusivity and diversity, creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued. Moreover, accessibility enables individuals to navigate the campus independently, fostering their confidence and sense of belonging. By prioritizing accessibility, colleges uphold principles of equity and promote a more just and supportive learning environment for all members of the community. I have been lucky enough to speak with a few University of Michigan Students to see what their personal takes are in regards to the accessibility on our campus. A quick side note, all of the interviewees in this episode are completely able bodied, so I think that’s something important to keep in mind while hearing their thoughts. I am curious to see if they will even be able to speak on the topic. I have asked these volunteers some pretty simple and direct questions, such as asking them to reflect on certain campus buildings that they spend a lot of time in, as well as asking them to reimagine navigating their own campus. I also asked them about their housing situations to see how that compares to the academic part of the University of Michigan campus.
Okay what is your name and what is your major
My name is Chase Evans I’m a Communications and media major
My name is Elena and I am an MCDB major
My name is Henry Veale and I am a mechanical engineering major
My name is Andres lllanes and I am a business major
So what buildings on campus do you think that you spend the most time in
Probably either the ugly or the Union
Probably either the MLB or the Union
I usually spend most of my time in GG Brown Laboratories The dude and the Kyle Mega house
So what buildings do you spend the most time in probably Ross right
Yes I tend to frequent Ross also I’ve been using the Trotter Multicultural Center quite Frequently
Okay so try to think back to one or a few of these buildings and try to describe to me how you would navigate it if you had some type of disability or were in a wheelchair
I think for the union for example they do have good um Accessibility like they have ground floor entry with no stairs they have like one button that opens the door for you and I feel like if I was in a wheelchair to enter the Union for example I’m not really sure about the ugly I haven’t really focused on that
Um if was in a wheelchair specifically i would enter through the side doors by west quad un there is a ramp there that you can get into the building with um and if i wanted to go up a floor i would take the elevator that is right by the panda express. If i was blind or deaf I would probably enter through the same doors cuz there’s no stairs and that’s one less hazard to worry about if you are blind specificlly. ally and I believe there might be a braille writing on the doors to make sure that you’re entering the right space.
I think it would be fairly difficult to enter some of the buildings Some of them are wheelchair accessible and have ramps But a lot of them contain a lot of stairs And it would be difficult to make your way around the building without using the elevators a lot
Okay I’m going to go with Ross for this one and I think it is relatively handicap accessible If I was in a wheelchair I think I would be able to utilize the elevators a lot In terms of actual entrances inside the building there are A couple that I can get into via wheelchair but there are also a lot of stairs entrances so it might be kind of a hindrance and getting into the building
Can you think of any other accessibility features in any of the buildings you mentioned
Entering the bathrooms would probably be a tough one There’s definitely no buttons that would assist in the process of opening the door Also definitely for the ugly the main floor doesn’t allow for too much easy entry I can’t think of anymore other than those
Um yes the union elevators can be opened with a button but they’re not that big so they would only really be able to fit one person if they had a wheelchair But if you are blind I think there is also Braille writing On the inside so you know which floor you’re going to
The dude or Stat Center has an elevator that goes just from the second floor to the first floor and vice As well as the regular elevators That’s a lot larger and designed for people with disabilities
Yeah the elevators are not that big and in terms of for instance the bathrooms I don’t know of any buttons to open the actual doors so I would imagine if I was in a wheelchair it would be pretty difficult to enter and exit the bathrooms
Do you find yourself thinking about these things on a daily basis or do you think this is something that you haven’t really confronted yet until now
I can’t say I thought about it too much
This is probably the first time I’ve encountered this but I do believe that the other buildings on campus are lacking in this
I have noticed accessibility features in these buildings with regard to only wheelchairs
This is probably the first time given that I’m not disabled I’ve had the privilege of not really keeping this in mind
So in general do you think that if you reimagined yourself with a disability just any disability it would pose as an inconvenience in the way that you usually navigate campus
Yeah if I had to reimagine myself with a disability I would definitely I would a more prone to seeing issues with transportation and just accessibility it’s hard for me to answer the question because it obviously I don’t face any of those challenges
Yes most likely the campus the buildings are very spread apart so it might be very difficult to get from point A to point B there are ramps for most of the buildings but they’re not super duper accessible they’re not very easily seen but other than that I think it would definitely be difficult
Yes I think having a disability would definitely pose as a difficulty especially on North Campus
Absolutely yeah it would just make me think about things I normally would not think about
Okay now think about your own house how accessible do you think that your house is like where you live on campus
oh I’m not accessible at all my own home is probably not accessible
my house is probably not accessible we don’t have any ramps we have all stairs that are really steep
And so that would post and so that would pose the danger to those with wheelchairs and those who are blind because it’s obviously super duper steep
My own house is very inaccessible there’s stairs that lead to every bedroom even the ones on the ground floor
It’s not accessible at all all the entrances you have to go upstairs to get into the house
Okay so do you also think it would be more difficult to find adequate housing around campus if you had a disability
That’s a good question I can’t think of many great housing scenarios on campus at least one from I’m familiar with I’m not sure about the dorms I’m not really too aware of what all that is like and their accessibility but for the housing at least I feel like most of the housing it is necessary to go upstairs in some capacity So I think it’s not great
Yes I do believe so it does not appear as many of our neighbors houses Are accessible either everyone around here it seems to be all staircases to get into the houses
Yes absolutely I think the distance to campus Also Place into this as a lot of houses are very far away from campus
Yes because all of my friends houses seem to have stairs as their entrances and I would imagine that as a disabled person it would be pretty difficult to navigate that
Okay what are some things that you think the community can do or work on to improve the accessibility on campus
For classroom buildings I think just more ramps and more handicapped accessible doorways in general
I would say just adding in more ramps to each of the buildings some of them have them some of them don’t and making it more easily making the elevators more easily accessible and putting them more closer to the entrances might be helpful and for those who are blind maybe including more Braille throughout the building so they can more easily navigate it
I think maybe adding a transportation system that could transport students with disabilities where they need to go without making them need to rely on the University transportation system
I think utilizing the endowment to sort of implement new disability accommodations such as ramps and buttons would help a lot and I think there are definitely steps to take and Michigan has done a great job but they could definitely do more. I also think for people who are deaf I feel like extra funding could be used to hire sign language interpreters into large lecture Halls to make it more of an easy experience for deaf people To participate in lectures
All right so that is concluding the interviews that I was able to do. I kind of just took the best parts of them, split them up and I wanted to thank everyone who volunteered to participate In my discussion. I thought that all these students inside especially having such different Majors were pretty interesting I also thought it was really interesting that the kind of default image of what a disability looks like is having an impairment that requires a wheelchair so i think that shows a lot about like someone who is able bodied probably is pictureing either someone who has a wheel chair or something who is blind as their first thoughts when I say someone who is disabled, because i never Really explicitly said wheelchair or blind or deaf except for maybe a few times as like an example, but i thought it was interesting that that was the default image. Which is fine um, but yea there was kind of a general consensus about the housing on campus even though there was some mixed thoughts, they were talking about different buildings so that makes sense. I hope you guys all enjoyed it and I hope you gained some insights into what some other students think about the accessibility on the UM campus.
