Disabilities at K-State

An Inclusive Campus

By: Morgan Huelsman

Three percent of the student body at Kansas State University is living with a disability. Doesn’t sound like much? This is equivalent to 800 students.

This percentage only includes those who have officially documented their disabilities with the Student Access Center. Out of those 800 students, 80% of them have a disability that is not visible.

Kansas State’s Student Access Center helps to provide equal access and opportunity to all campus programs and services for students with disabilities. With the support and help of the entire campus community, the center works to ensure that everyone has full access to university life.

“There have been a lot of changes with how society views people with disabilities and just being more inclusive so we wanted to follow that pattern [with our services],” said Andrea Blair, Director of the Student Access Center. “I have two sign language interpreters on staff, two other disability advisors, an administrative assistant and a testing center coordinator.”

Blair and the two other disability advisors are the only consultants who work with the 800 plus cases of students. “Each day our numbers go up, but some of those 800 students are just students who have a file or have provided documentation,” said Blair.

The Student Access Center provides several accommodations for students of varying disabilities like alternative text, service animals, testing centers, assistance with lectures, listening devices, housing services and transportation. The ATA bus is the transportation service used by all students but specifically helps those who need assistance in mobility.

The transportation service is not required for the university or the center to provide for students. “As a university and K-State always wanting to be helpful, we continue using the transportation service to help all students,” said Blair.

In comparison to other programs in accompanying cities that help provide equal access to students with disabilities, Kansas State is one of the most supportive. “My colleagues at other schools are envious because our faculty, our staff and the people are just very accommodating and helpful. They go out of their way to make sure students have above the minimum,” said Blair.

Although the staff is well equipped to handle disabilities, the university itself is not. Kansas State has been here for several years and the buildings are not up to date. “The campus is old and buildings are old, the disability

With the remodeling and creation of buildings on campus, Blair applauds their efforts to make the new buildings more accessible. “I think the university is doing a great job with all of the new building that’s going on to think about things like stair less entries.”

Little changes in buildings like stair less entries and elevators are not the only things helping students with disabilities, technology is also making its impact. As professors started to post power points on K-State Online, not only students without disabilities benefited, but also so did those with disabilities. Adding work online and making email easily accessible is a huge step for those especially with learning disabilities.

Working in a place like the Student Access Center has allowed Blair to understand individuals with a variety of disabilities. “It’s years of experience that I can understand and feel compassion for students,” said Blair. “It’s made me a compassionate person to understand that we are all different and we are all still individuals.”

However, despite the K-State atmosphere of inclusiveness and supportive, there is still a need for change. The Student Access Center is still seeing several students and someday, Blair hopes this will no longer be the case. “We can all just be inclusive and then we don’t need an access center,” said Blair. “As people live their day-to-day lives and make decisions, think about their perspective. Instead of putting stairs and ramp, why don’t we just put a ramp?”

access doors are typically in the back of old buildings and that’s kind of the way it is,” said Blair. “That’s unfortunate.”