“Time will say nothing but I told you so,” wrote Auden. At first one is tempted to think of time as being shrewish–but then Auden adds: “Time only knows the price we have to pay.” Time is sad. Time is very sad indeed.
It was a gray day in Iowa. I wrote letters for students; answered e-mails ; and I wondered why people with disabilities are still without basic accommodations at major American universities. Apparently lots of colleges and universities think that making disabled staff and students compel them to meet the basic required accommodations under the ADA is an acceptable policy. Time only knows the price we have to pay. We drink tea. We play Mahler on the HI Fi. We talk to the trusting dog. We go forward.
I’m middle aged and I have a good job. I teach at a Big 10 university in the heart of the United States. I have excellent students and colleagues. And yet I’m mindful that 20 years after the ADA people like me are barely on board in higher education. I think often of African-American faculty some forty plus years ago who had to withstand the piercing scrutiny of a white professoriate and college administrators. And of course one doesn’t have to stop there.Young faculty of color are struggling even as I type–diversity is a very hard road and I know something about it as I chaired the Ohio State University’s Diversity Committee and got to hear some hair raising things. Time only knows the price we have to pay.
Disability is still thought of as being outside the cultural core of many institutions of higher education. Its a “rehabilitation” model enterprise at such institutions: they will grudgingly provide test taking services or paper work outlining for faculty that students need accommodations. But imagining that the faculty might also need accommodations–or the staff or returning veterans or that these issues are part and parcel of the intellectual history and momentum of American pluralism is beyond most campus administrations. This isn’t strictly the case but its all too often a matter of “the same old same old”. Time only knows the price we have to pay.
I was interested to read the following over at the Department of Justice ADA website concerning a small private college. If people with disabilities stay the course they can make changes at their respective colleges and universities. The price is your sense of graceful inclusiveness which Time can tell you about in full measure.
Here’s the announcement from the Department of Justice:
CHATHAM UNIVERSITY WILL INCREASE CAMPUS ACCESSIBILITY
On December 9, 2008, Chatham University, a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entered into a settlement agreement with the Department under which the university will make its campus and services more accessible to individuals with disabilities. The settlement resolves an investigation during which the Department found violations of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design in newly constructed buildings, architectural barriers in existing facilities, and inaccessible circulation paths throughout the campus. The university has agreed to undertake specific remedial steps over the next five years to remedy these and other barriers to full accessibility on campus.
The agreement addresses the major facilities on campus and related services, including administration buildings and faculty offices, assembly areas, classrooms, skill labs, cultural facilities, science facilities, dining areas, student housing and lounges, the library, the athletic center and playing fields, and parking. It also requires the university to modify policies, practices, and procedures when necessary to afford access to services and facilities for individuals with disabilities.
S.K.
Planet of the Blind 
All I can say is that it’s brutal and at public universities too. All administrators in some places are like Eichmann and basic, even cost free, accommodations based on documented need can be denied absolutely to both students and staff, or decisions postponed indefinitely even after multiple requests. The only solution is to try to make things better for others, though eventually you’re exhausted, your work is impeded, and you suffer from the emotional stress enough to avoid the environment as much as possible.
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