In Tanya Titchkosky’s novel The question of access, she questions how “people do and don’t look at disability and access” (4). The bureaucracy of Emory’s board members’ must have not looked at the poor design and access of the Emory Student Health Services (SHS) building, because it’s one of the most inaccessible buildings on campus. The buildings location, stair and ramp access, personnel, and signage all make students dread going to get the slightest check-up. I, as well as friends of mine, have personally avoided going to the Emory Student Health Services building, and just let time cure our illness’ rather than endure Student Health Service’s inaccessible hardships. The fact that students would choose the pain of being sick rather than going to the Health Center shows how Emory has done a poor job in making its students accessible to basic needs such as doctors and medicine, as well as the comfort of knowing they are being taken care of.
| Student Health Services is located at 1525 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, Georgia on the second floor facing Clifton road. It is roughly a mile from the center of campus (Asbury Circle) to the entrance of the student health services building. On most college campuses the health services building is centrally located so that it’s accessible to all of its students. This building is completely inaccessible to Emory students, to put it almost off the immediate campus. If a chair user needed to get to a doctor, they should be able to get there without much effort, and instead it’s the opposite. The path to Student Health Services from a freshman dorm, lets say Fevans, has a lot of hills. The bridge over the train tracks on Clifton road is very narrow, making it more dangerous for students to get to SHS with the rushing cars, only inches away. There are some crosswalks with no traffic or pedestrian lights making this extremely dangerous for someone without a disability crossing the street, let alone a chair user or someone who is blind. Making crosswalks safer by adding lights or signals should be a priority of Emory. The location of Student Health Services makes going to the doctor a complete hassle and it adds a reason to why many people hate going to the doctor. The entrance of the SHS building is another concern for accessibility. Yes, it has both stairs and ramps; however, the ramp is virtually hidden behind foliage and roughly 85 feet away from the stairs entrance. After four trips to SHS to get healthy, I had to go back a fifth time just to check if there even was a ramp, proving the accessibility signage is almost non-existent. I couldn’t find the sign indicating the ramp, until I was at the top of the stairs looking to come down. After coming all the way from central campus, a chair user or someone who needs to use a ramp is not going to be happy that they need to now find a ramp. The stairs though are inconvenient as well with 42 steps outside and 25 inside. One of the stair paths right outside the entrance doors has being caution taped off since the first week in September as well. They should move the ramp closer to the center of the building or eliminate some stairs to make it easier to get inside. There are elevators inside, making the building slightly more accessible, but they are very slow and after someone’s patience have been worn thin from the journey to the building, and the trek to get inside, the wait for the elevator will make a chair user want to climb the stairs inside. If the three factors I just mentioned don’t completely ruin your experience at SHS, then the personnel will definitely get you past the point of no return and make you never want to go back. | |
Growing up in Long Island, New York, I am used to the loud, boisterous, often off-putting attitude of people, which is why I came to the South for some of that “Southern hospitality.” Since I have been here, I have been overwhelmed with care, generosity, and compassion from people everywhere but SHS. I went twice in the first three weeks of school for completely different illnesses, and was somewhat scolded by the employees, for not knowing where to sign in at the computer, and for not speaking to the right receptionist. The third time I went was two weeks ago and following instructions I didn’t make an appointment for a Flu shot and got to the office at 3:03pm. The waiting room was empty and the only doctor capable of giving a Flu shot apparently leaves at 3:00 on the dot and I was yelled at to leave after speaking with multiple receptionists. Flu Shots are given from 10:00 to 3:00 Monday through Thursday, but I have class during those times and clearly expressed that to the receptionists. A chair user, or someone else with a mobile disability would take a lot more time to get there and would have been enraged to be turned away after putting in a lot of effort to get to SHS. It should be a top priority to hire staff that Emory can be sure would be friendly and warm to students, especially in the Health Center.
Emory makes it so difficult to get to SHS, get in, and then make students deal with the employees, it’s almost as if they don’t want students to go. As Hayley Girsky said in her blog post “It’s important for Student Health Services to be accessible for all types of people especially those that are sick or have permanent or temporary disabilities” (http://emoryhg.weebly.com/1/post/2013/10/assignment-21.html). Between the long route and lack of accessibility signage, inaccessible ramps, tiresome stairs, and rude employees, SHS is one of the least accessible buildings I’ve experienced, and my least favorite to visit on campus. I’ve been stocking up on apples, because I’m not planning to back to SHS anytime soon.
Emory makes it so difficult to get to SHS, get in, and then make students deal with the employees, it’s almost as if they don’t want students to go. As Hayley Girsky said in her blog post “It’s important for Student Health Services to be accessible for all types of people especially those that are sick or have permanent or temporary disabilities” (http://emoryhg.weebly.com/1/post/2013/10/assignment-21.html). Between the long route and lack of accessibility signage, inaccessible ramps, tiresome stairs, and rude employees, SHS is one of the least accessible buildings I’ve experienced, and my least favorite to visit on campus. I’ve been stocking up on apples, because I’m not planning to back to SHS anytime soon.
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