To hold the door or not hold the door – that’s a question some people might ask themselves when they encounter a person with a disability. On the one hand you want to be polite and help out, but on the other hand you don’t want to offend the person by insinuating they need help.
What should you do?
“Treat them with the same courtesy that you treat someone else,” said a Sinclair Community College student named Shawn who asked that his last name not be printed. “If the guy behind you has a big double armed load of books you’re going to hold the door for him. If you want to do that for the guy in the wheelchair that is fine too. I’m sure that if the guy in the wheelchair is down to where he really needs help, he’ll ask for it.”
Shawn, who’s had both hips replaced, rides the RTA to Sinclair everyday he has classes and said the bus drops him and his wheelchair or walker off in front of the school conveniently. While Shawn said he gets around Sinclair fine with a couple of exceptions, he said he does have a problem with the elevators.
“It has been rumored that (Sinclair) has slowed these elevators down to encourage people to take the steps, but that hasn’t worked,” Shawn said. “All they’ve basically done is cut the (speed) by 20 to 30 percent, and if I’m going to wait for three elevators to go by because they are full of people, I’m not going to take the stairs. I’d just as soon they went by as fast as possible so I can get on.”
Other than problems with the elevators, Shawn said he enjoys Sinclair and said he has been treated well, especially by students.
“I’ve found that most of the students are pretty polite,” he said. “There are a few that like to text message when they’re walking (that will) bump into you on occasion.”
Mary Wilcox, who suffers from osteoarthritis in her knees, also said she has been treated well by the students and also extends that compliment out to instructors.
“My teachers have been pretty good,” Wilcox said. “I can talk to them and work things out.”
Wilcox said the ways her instructors help her is by giving her extra time to get to the different locations where her art classes meet. They also let her shop at a Fed Ex closer to her house rather than make her shop with the rest of her class.
Wilcox said sometimes she feels like her disability slows down her classmates, but she said she doesn’t let that bother her. Something that does bother her is parking.
“I actually think (Sinclair) needs more handicapped parking and that might be selfish, but you get here and you have to circle 15 to 20 minutes because all the handicap parking is taken, obviously by other handicap people that need it, but I’ve actually seen people sit in handicap spaces waiting for people with no handicap tags,” she said. “It’s kind of infuriating.”
There are 55 handicap parking spots available in Parking Lot A.
Disability Services
Disability Services, located in Building 10 Room 421, serves students with disabilities in several ways, according to James Shuler, a counselor in the department.
Shuler said the office acts as an advocate for students who are registered and qualified for their services, acts as a consultant for faculty that have questions on how to best serve students and also looks at Sinclair and makes sure it is meeting the guidelines of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Some of the services available to students that qualify are audio textbooks, interpreters, note takers, special testing arrangements and disability-related, non-clinical counseling.
Shuler said each student that applies is considered on a case-by-case basis in order to see how their disability affects them. Shuler said that if students don’t register, the department cannot address what their needs are.
“I would say that each quarter we have somewhere between 1,000 (to) 1,500 students who are registered for our services,” Shuler said. “If a student feels like their disability is going to impact them negatively academically, we do encourage them to get registered with our offices.”
Teaching with a disability
Adjunct Professor Kristann Harrigan said Sinclair has been very good to her during her 13 years at the school. Harrigan, who has cerebral palsy, said Sinclair allows her to teach all of her classes out of one room where she has a specialized motherboard that allows her to control almost all of the electronic equipment.
“I have a lot of respect for how I’ve been treated at Sinclair,” Harrigan said.
Harrigan said she has no problems with asking for assistance and said she gets excellent help from her students.
“In my opinion, the trend (for younger people with disabilities) is that they want to do everything on their own because they don’t want to be treated different, but that isn’t the case as much (for older people with disabilities).” Harrigan said. “In my opinion, that attitude doesn’t really get you that far because everybody needs help once and a while.”