Page eight
Handicapped
continued from page 1
bably just forgotten." Forgotten?
How? The answer to this question
is unknown.
Although the answers to these
questions will remain unclear,
one thing is apparent. In the past
few years, the entire Guilford
College community has made a
sincere and conscious effort to
make it possible for students con
fined to wheelchairs to attend the
school. But is it enough? Is it
possible for a handicapped stu
dent, not only to attend classes,
but to live, work, and participate
fully in all social and academic
functions on our campus? Unfor
tunately, it isn't.
Among some of the major
structural barriers on the cam
pus, besides the gym, are the lack
of ramped entrances and/or
elevators in Dana Auditorium,
New Garden Hall, the library,
and every dormitory on campus.
Unbelievable? Not really. Shock
ed that you never noticed before?
Don't be. Gross negligence like
this is commonly overlooked. To
direct any anger at any in
dividuals, since no one can be
blamed for a wrong that they are
not aware of, is not the answer.
As Bill Schmickle put it, "it's not
at all a question of a lack of con
sideration, but rather one of pure
ignorance."
It is not the intention of this ar
ticle to express anger, nor is it to
ruffle feathers, to attract pity, or
to gripe. Its' sole purpose is to
promote a campus-wide
awareness of the seriousness of
these problems, which can be
Lynch's Line
A Piece of Cake?
By Janice Lynch
My friend thinks I shouldn't
write a column about weddings.
As she was quick to inform me,
"Weddings are becoming
fashionable." If they're so
fashionable, are all the brides
wearing Christian Dior? They
wouldn't have my size.
This summer I filed a few hun
dred newspaper clippings on
Guilford alumni. Three-quarters
of these were wedding notices
from society pages. I am now
qualified to tell you more about
weddings than Emily Post. I
know that organza, chiffon,
pearls, Queen Anne's Lace, and
silk are popular materials for
gowns. I can tell you that ushers
no longer wear pastel tuxedos
with matching shoes. There are
subtle distinctions to be made
between an eleven a.m. wedding,
a late afternoon wedding, and a
candlelight wedding. At the
reception, one does not cut in
when the bride is dancing with
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Guilfordian Advertising
Reaches People
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September 14, 1983
more aggravating, more embar
rassing, more humiliating than
you may have realized.
One obstacle that needs to be
overcome is a general
misunderstanding of the problem
itself. If someone told you that
students in wheelchairs are
unable to get up into the stacks to
take out books, your first reaction
would probably be, "no problem,
I'm sure that there would always
be plenty of people in the library
that would be willing to get books
for them." This is true, in fact
this is probably more likely to oc
cur on our campus than on most
others. The willingness of
students, faculty, and staff, to
give assistance to others is over
whelming, and is much ap
preciated. But that is not the
point.
It was the purpose of the
"Barrier-Free Act" to allow all
handicapped adults to be as self
sufficient and independent as
other adults. Think about how
you would feel if every time you
needed a book, or anything else
for the matter, you knew that you
had no other choice but to bother
someone to get it for you?
It is understandable that com
plete renovation of Dana, the
gym, New Garden, the library,
and the dormitories is a major
undertaking that will take a con
siderable amount of time and
money (assuming, of course, that
it WILL be done). But there are
many less troublesome things
that can, and should be done in
the meantime. Some sections of
the sidewalk are mutilated to the
her father.
There are enormous dif
ferences between Northern wed
dings and their Southern counter
parts. Southerners use sisters
and brothers for maids and
ushers; Northerners are a bit
more callous. Southerners have
cookies and punch at the recep
tion and hurry folks home within
an hour. Northerners take out a
second mortgage on the house,
drop out of college, and sell the
dog to pay for the extravaganza
they call a reception. Southerners
may serve breakfast with grits to
visiting relatives; Northerners
serve white bread and white cake
with white icing. Northerners
serve a great deal of alcohol to
numb the pain of the bill.
I know all of these things about
weddings. I know what color my
dress will be. Still, there is
something I cannot quite unders
tand. Something that keeps me
awake at night: how do so many
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point of being dangerous, par
ticularly between Hobbs and
King, and between Shore and Bin
ford. Many doors, including the
back entrance to Founders, and
the side door of Archdale, are
much too heavy to hold open with
one hand, while pushing ones self
through the doorway with the
other hand.
There are also a number of
things that each member, of the
community, with a little extra
people find one another and agree
to live together for fifty years?
Divorce is an option, but not one
you consider on your wedding
day. How do they know that in
five or ten or fifteen years they
won't be tired of a spouse's baby
blues? What happens when the
conversation wears thin? I mean,
I wonder what Gunter Grass is
saying in his poem, "Marriage,"
when he writes:
Exhaustion simulates har
mony.
What do we owe each other?
It sounds just as bad in German
and I need the answer before I'm
thirty.
I asked a girlfriend at home
why she was getting married
how at twenty-one she could know
that this man wouldt>e her man. I
asked how she could plunge into
it. "Good sex," she said, "for
good sex." I don't trust her
though. She's Catholic-good sex
for Catholics is guiltless sex. It
isn't marriage.
Lisa Smith climbs the stairs to Shore dormitory
thought, can do that will make a
difference. No maintenance vehi
cle, or any other vehicles, should
ever be parked across sidewalks,
or in front of ramped entrances.
Elevators should never be left
locked on one floor for long
periods of time. Side doors with
ramps should never be left locked
while the rest of the building is
open for use. These things can all
be avoided without too much ef
fort on anyone's part.
Letters
continued from page 7
say, North Florida is part of the
South), spent a summer in a
large Northern city and wrote a
humorous column about unceas
ing traffic jams, high prices, toll
roads, crime, and other
stereotypical images of the
North, I am sure that many Nor
therners would find it as unfunny
and offensive as I found Janice
Lynch's description of life in the
South.
Greensboro may not be a
24-hour cabaret, but neither is it
the isolation chamber that she
portrays. I hope that people will
recognize her column as a failed
attempt at a joke, rather than an
accurate description of the city.
Sincerely,
Fred King
Dear Editors:
During Freshman orientation,
time was set aside to familiarize
incoming students with the Stu-
live
v — W. Friendly Avenue
rst \0 At Quaker Village Shopping Center
O Greensboro, N. C. 27410
(919) 854-2112
The next time you go for a
leisurely stroll across the cam
pus, take a few extra moments to
picture yourself in a wheelchair.
Then take another look at our
campus.
"Life is not always a downhill
ride, so we have to make sure
that some people can go up."
Bill Schmickle
dent Services Office. Among the
services discussed was the new
"Big Brother/Big Sister" pro
gram, funded by Student Ser
vices. The speaker, a student who
was closely involved with this
program, made some fascicious
remarks regarding underage
drinking. As a result, Guilford's
drinking policy, as well as the in
tegrity of Student Services, was
questioned by some parents.
I was the speaker at that Stu
dent Services presentation and
would like to clarify that l) Big
Brothers/Big Sisters is not a beer
providing organization, 2) I take
full responsibility for the
careless, off-handed manner in
which my comments were made,
and 3) Guilford, as a Quaker in
stitution, prefers to keep the
presence of alcohol to a
minimum.
I hope that my seemingly light
treatment of such a serious, legal
issue has not caused needless dif
ficulties.
Gayle Coppock