There’s an article today by Megan Rogers at Inside Higher Ed which highlights the unfortunate accessibility problems Professor Bill Peace and I experienced during a visit to Hobart and William Smith Colleges last weekend. One important thing that’s missing from Megan Roger’s article—and this is really significant—is my description of the colleges’ responsiveness to the situation. I spoke warmly and enthusiastically about President Mark Gearan who is a superb campus leader and is a “stand up guy” as they say in the vernacular. President Gearan has organized a team to address accessibility problems at Hobart and William Smith. I told Megan Rogers that in my experience this kind of prompt and professional responsiveness does not often happen in higher ed circles. I mentioned the University of Iowa which has a student disability center in the basement of a dormitory, which makes the office not only hard to find, but impossible to exit in case of a fire. Despite my repeated efforts to get administration at Iowa to fix this problem the problem remains. Accordingly I’ve grown to admire people at the top in higher ed who seek to redress problems when they’re discovered. I applaud President Gearan for his leadership and commitment around issues of inclusion and diversity.
Planet of the Blind 