"The College encourages individuals with disabilities to apply for admission with the expectation that the College will provide access to all programs."
That is the promise made by the College in a pamphlet distributed by the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, but keeping that promise is no easy task, and it requires the cooperation of the entire College community.
Upon admission, students who declare disabilities and request assistance are referred to several departments for accommodations, Christie Jackson, assistant director of admissions, said.
According to Pompian there are currently about 50 students at the College who have declared physical disabilities, including deafness, low-vision, chronic illness and mobility impairments, and have requested assistance.
Woody Eckels, director of Residential Operations said he receives requests for a variety of disabilities from chronic illness to severe arthritis, wheelchair needs and hearing related disabilities.
There are a variety of first-floor handicap accessible residence options, including Mid-Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Morton residence halls, and the Native American House, Eckels said. However, some buildings, such as Lord residence hall, are still not accessible, he added.
For hearing disabilities, the Office of Residential Life does not place students based on the disability. Instead, after a student is assigned housing, ORL fits the room with powerful strobe lights to replace alarms and can close caption the television.
Erika Nelson '01 who wears a cochlear implant, said the College has met her needs. In addition to room accommodations, Nelson uses realtime captioning in class -- a system where a telephone and an internet connection allow her to read verbatim what the professor and class are saying.
Initially, Nelson said she worried she might not have enough technological support for her cochlear processor but the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center has been a good resource for her. Nelson said she hopes the College "will always continue to move fast to acquire the newest and best technology to help improve the quality of the classroom and dorm setting."
Eckels -- whose father, a Dartmouth alumnus, is wheelchair-bound -- said he approaches the problem of accessibility from a personal viewpoint and recognizes the importance of the issue.
He said, however, that "we are not an inner city school" with many students who are wheelchair bound, and that prospective disabled students realize "when it snows here it's really tough to get around."
Pompian also said that while people who were here as recently as five years ago have come back and noticed an improvement in physical access Dartmouth "never will be as accessible as a newer school or one that's in a warm place like Stanford."
Pompian co-chairs the Section 504 Committee, with Ozzie Harris, associate director of equal opportunity/affirmative action. The committee consists of a diverse group of administrators in charge on ensuring campus accessibility and compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Harris said he thinks the campus is more than adequately accessible. "I'm not even certain that the weather would deter people. Assuming someone is living in Boston or Providence or Burlington, I would like to think that we're as accessible as any of those locations," he said.
The 504 Committee recently renovated wheelchair ramps, added automated door closers and toilet accessibility in Bradley Hall, and added accessible ramps in Carpenter Hall and Rockefeller Center. The committee also directed renovation at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge in the past year.
Future plans include improvements in Alumni Gym, Cook Auditorium and Ledyard Canoe Club. Currently the upper level of Leede Arena and the third-floor of the gym are inaccessible.Access to the canoe club would allow wheelchair-bound students to more easily participate in freshman trips -- an otherwise potentially exclusive experience, Pompian said.
The Hopkins Center has also instituted several structural and non-structural reforms to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
As in many other buildings on campus, the College has "access issues" in the Hopkins Center because of the date of construction. Additionally, the Hop "was built as a multi-level facility ... and except for the concept of transferring cargo, there was no concept of being accessible," said Marga Rahmann, associate Hop director.
Other improvements include the installation of a permanent transmitter for assisted listening devices in all the theaters. Patrons can request small headphone or earplug transmitters for any Hopkins Center event.
Last November Director of the Collis Center Mark Hoffman, spent three days working at the College in a wheelchair in order to find out first-hand in what way the building was not accessible.
Hoffman said he spent most of his time in Collis itself, and found it extremely accessible. Collis porch is the only part of the building still inaccessible, which Hoffman discovered when he had to be lifted across the steps to give a speech.
He said he also had difficulty accessing Hanover stores and restrooms in some local restaurants. Although the buildings might be accessible by code, he said he found the access inconvenient. For example, to use the restroom in one restaurant, he had to leave the building and re-enter.
During his trial period, Hoffman said he was physically exhausted. When the three days finished, "I was relieved that I could take advantages of my privileges," said Hoffman.
"People need to be aware of the restraints" for a disabled person, and that "society is set up to favor us," said Hoffman.
