The Office for Students with Disabilities has received a significant amount of student criticism in response to its recent suspension of services to temporarily disabled students.
A driver for the Office for Students with Disabilities explains the wait list and application procedure to temporarily disabled Thurgood Marshall College junior Shannon Ng.
Due to a limited number of golf carts and trained student drivers, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Development Brian J. Murray said that it was impossible for OSD to provide rides to and from class for temporarily disabled students — students with such afflictions such as a broken foot or leg, pulled tendon or sprain.
“This fall quarter there was a marked increased demand for service coupled with a lack of available, trained student drivers,” Murray stated in an e-mail. “Hence, [there was a] necessity to limit cart transport on a priority basis to those with permanent disability, followed by those with needs for cart transport of multi-months duration.”
Other students with short-term mobility issues were placed on a waitlist for service, according to Murray.
Despite this, disabled students across campus are angry with the office’s decision.
Emily Catalano, a Thurgood Marshall College senior, broke her foot about two weeks ago. When she went into the office wearing a cast and hobbling on crutches, she said an employee told her about the wait list, but said, “There’s a lot of injured people and we probably can’t help you right now.”
“I ended up not even going to class for a week and a half because I had class at Peterson at 1 p.m. and York at 2 p.m. and HSS at 3 p.m. and York at 4 p.m.,” Catalano said.
Due in part to student complaints, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson stated in an e-mail that OSD has decided to “transfer the responsibility for providing transportation services … to Parking and Transportation Services” within the next month.
In addition, Murray said that T&PS recently supplied OSD with another cart, and additional student drivers were hired to help meet the demand.
Despite the changes, the office is still receiving flak for its downsized menu of services.
A.S. Commissioner of Student Advocacy Lindsay Root broke her foot in May, and said that OSD officials made her physically come three times to their office while she was on crutches to fill out paperwork.
Then, the office forced Root to wait until her orthopedic surgeon had faxed over all her medical documentation before they would begin to help her.
Then, once all of Root’s work was complete, she discovered that as far as the rides went, she was “completely on their time” because the “rides either get you to your next class late or make you leave your first class early.”
Both Watson and Murray said they were concerned about the complaints.
“OSD and its director are committed to providing responsive and effective service to each and every student to the best of their ability and resources in respectful and positive ways,” Watson stated.
According to Murray, student complaints will be carefully reviewed and addressed.
Murray recommended that all further complaints about OSD be sent directly to Director Roberta Gimblett via e-mail or campus mail.
