The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, February 19, 19877
"he Daily Tar Heel Thursday, February 19, 1987
ft
ccessibility creates
a cafflpms handicap
OHNCOBBS
Ariter ;
hen sleet and snow hit UNC this
v. filling the streets, covering the
stopping the buses and coating
walkways, ice became an obsta
. a bit like a handicap. The only
rrence between the two is that ice
, a few days: handicaps stick
ind.
im Spainhour can explain the
erence. Spainhour, a junior at
;C. is confined to a wheelchair
ause of an injury he suffered after
freshman year. If the above
tement about ice were presented
'jim. Spainhour might say that the
ather certainly has made this week
igher than usual, but even on
my days nothing is easy.
ake Hill Hall for instance. Spain
ir has created an interdisciplinary
jor. Music Industry. One class
iinhour needs for his degree meets
the second floor of Hill Hall. He
i scheduled to be in that class this
lester, but because of one conspic
is absence in the building's facil
s. he cannot physically get to the
ssroom.
'They've got an elevator shatt,
s Spainhour, "with no elevator in
' What was once an elevator is now
janitor's closet. "They replaced the
;vator door with a locking door and
ide a storage closet out of it." And
: several stairways lead the other
idents enrolled in his Music 167
iss to the studio are inaccessible to
jainhour.
According to the department
ficials Spainhour has spoken with,
e elevator is scheduled to be
installed. "Now that they know I
;ed the course in my major,"
painhour says. "I have a little more
verage. I hope."
While Spainhour waits to see the
cond floor of Hill Hall, he also
aits to visit friends in other resi
;nce halls. A handicap access map
lows that of the 29 residence halls,
nly five allow a wheelchaired
udent entrance. But just because the
jors of these five halls are open,
painhour says not to expect a full
isplay of hospitality within.
The South Campus dorms all
ermit entrance and ground floor
andicapped facilities. "But try,"
painhour says, "to use the suite
athrooms and you are stopped by
le lump in the middle (of the
oorway) " Though there are a few
uites designed to allow handicapped
tudents access, Spainhour does not
ave the freedom to visit friends'
ooms as he pleases.
But some strides have been made
n campus where access difficulties
iave caused large-scale problems,
fhe Dean Smith Activities Center
osed one such problem. The
athrooms did not provide adequate
oom for handicapped patrons and
.eats lacked views. Every time fans
.tnnd uo to cheer, students in the
handicapped seating "areafouridt thietr,
vision obstructedY . ,v -r v
Those problems have been cor
rected beautifully, according to
Laura Thomas, coordinator of Han
dicapped Student Services. Parking
at the SAC still remains somewhat
of a headache, according to Thomas,
but that problem should soon be
fixed as well.
Sue Cleland, a freshman from
California, has experienced her own
type of exclusion. Since the eighth
grade, Cleland's hearing had been
gradually robbed from her by an
auto-immune disease. Last year, she
was rendered legally deaf.
She chose to attend UNC. her
mother's alma mater, rather than a
college for the deaf because "their
courses are not as advanced (as
UNC's) and I was not good enough
in sign language."
Since Cleland had only recently
lost all hearing, her education never
lagged. However, when another
accident took away her ability to read
lips, she had the additional challenge
of learning the American Sign Lan
guage (ASL), which Cleland calls "a
foreign language in itself." Through
HSS, Cleland was set up with Greg
Propp, a senior transfer from
Nebraska who also freelances as an
interpreter. Propp has become Cle
land's primary in-class interpreter,
and through practice with him and
others, Cleland has become profi
cient in ASL.
Propp, whose parents are both
deaf, learned ASL at home and has
interpreted in court cases, legislative
sessions and other educational situa
tions. "He's great, he's perfect," says
Cleland "I've had three or four
(interpreters) and he's by far the
best."
Coordinated scheduling allows
Propp to accompany Cleland to all
her classes and still work to complete
his own degree. "It's about 27 hours
total (class time)" Propp says, "but
some of her classes are interesting to
me."
Interpreting can be hard work as
well. The concentration involved,
Cleland says "can be fatiguing, like
reading under a bad light."
One course put Propp's talent to
the test. "Last semester," says Cleland
"I took a Russian history course."
Since many of the names and places
mentioned in lectures have no Eng
lish sign, Propp had to shift from
signing words to speed signing letters.
"Luckily, he's a great speller,"
Cleland says.
Though ASL is a chore to both
learn and use, Cleland says it does
afford one benefit. "It's also a foreign
language to those who don't under
stand it," Cleland says, but she admits
she rarely uses it to exclude others,
for she knows well the pain of feeing
excluded.
"People hesitate to talk to me,"
Cleland says, because of the effort
involved. Since most people must
write down messages or try to sigr
spell -words when, she is without an
interpreter;, Cleland - realizes. he.'.i3
. sometimes left out. And she has set
out to overcome the obstacle by
teaching a course in sign language
on her hall in Granville Towers on
Wednesday nights. Cleland hopes
that, by her encouragment of others
to use" ASL, they, in turn, will be
encouraged to include her in their
conversations. ' . w ."
new to Cleland and her loss of
hearing . has . not slowed either her
academic or extracurricular pursuits.
She is a menber of the North
Carolina Fellows Program, Inter
Varsity Christian Fellowship and
supplements her Pre-Med studies in
class with some extraordinary field
work field work that includes
taking calls for the Orange County
Rescue Squad and pursuing work
with a local hospital emergency
room.
Though she is presently restricted
to a passive role aboard the para
medic van, Cleland says that "with
her parents' permission" and by
special arrangement with OCRS, she
may be performing hands-on lifesav
ing before long.
Cleland's background has pre
pared her for such rigorous, pressure
filled work. "I was a fire fighter for
four years in California" she says, as
calmly as if it were any other summer
job.
Compared to these challenges,
Cleland's other difficulties appear
tame. She misses taking a foreign
language, but says that due to
academic regulations a certain level
of hearing is necessary. Cleland also
regrets that the music major requires
music listening courses, for, as she
demonstrated by testing out of a
music theory class, her knowledge is
on a par with her enthusiasm. ,
The freshman may attempt to get
around the red tape in both of these
cases, but for now, in only her second
semester here at UNC, she has plenty
of challenges to occupy her time.
The challenges facing Cleland and
Spainhour represent just two parts
of the total handicapped student
story at UNC. "There are over 200
self-declared handicapped students at
UNC "Thomas says.
Though not all handicapped stu
dents are hampered by mobility
impairing disabilities, each student
must constantly overcome obstacles.
HSS serves the blind student who
requires special texts or a volunteer
reader; HSS makes arrangements for
the dyslexic student who needs extra
instruction from a tutor, and HSS
helps get students like Cleland and
Propp together.
The focus of HSS is extremely
broad. "We are with a student,"
Thomas says, "from admission to
commencement." Oftentimes, the
relationship begins even earlier. A
prospective handicapped student
may contact or visit HSS before
admission to get an idea of the
campus lay out and facilities.
The assistance HSS provides "cuts
across many different departments,"
'Thomas says, From its initial invol-
vement with admisssion and orien
1 tation, HSS branches out to insure
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Sue Cleland (left) gets a little help understanding the questions and relaying her message from her own personal interpreter Greg Propp (right) in an interview with STV
local accessible housing, campus and
community transportation and val
uable academic counselling. As
coordinator of HSS, Thomas acts as
academic adviser to handicapped
students and her office performs
registration and drop add duties that
allow students to avoid those recur
ring nightmares.
Handicapped issues are the con
cern of one other group on campus.
When a student is prevented from
entering a building or taking a course
"that student is being discriminated
against." Those are the words of
Brian Hassell, and that is the phi
losophy of the Students for Educa
tional Access.
The SEA is dedicated to insuring
equal educational opportunities for
all students handicapped by either
physical or financial disablities. A
special subcommitttee, formed to
deal with the problems of handi
capped students at UNC system
schools, found that barriers such as
the one facing Spainhour in Hill Hall
take money to remove.
The problem begins with the state
legislature's budget allocation pro
cess. "Nineteen-eighty-two was the
last year money was granted to the
University systems for architectural
barrier removal projects," Subcom
mittee President Laura Line says.
Due to this lack of funding, the
estimated cost for needed repairs and
other necessary safety and health
modifications has risen to well over
$1 million for UNC alone.
Part of the SEA's efforts to alert
the student body to handicapped
problems is an awareness day to be
held Monday. Line says that areas
which restrict access to disabled
persons will be tagged with "Barrier
Busters" signs, and disability simu-
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DTHDan Charlson
Jim Spainhour takes his time manuevering his way through the ice
iMiffiiam'-wiiMiiiiiri. 1 1 1 "
DTHDan Charlson
With the help ol Propp, Cleland doesn't miss a word of lecture during an English class. Propp accompanies her to each class
lations will be staged in Pit. "We are
hoping to have Dean Boulton par
ticipate," says Line, whose project
goal is to encourage support for the' t
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cp a'c nronoied lobbvine efforts in Cleland and Spainhour both ?Pef optimistically aoout overcom-
SbA s proposed lobbying enons in fnldr!lt;n n h. HiMiina ing banners which stand in their way,
Raleigh and to raise an awareness express frustration when discussing b de or the result of
on campus of the difficulties encoun- physical or bureaucratic restrictions , ' ' ! :
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