Visual Argument - Campus Accessibility

A mini-documentary of one student's experiences with inaccessibility around the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• disability
• medicine
• kinesiology
• wheelchair
• accessibility
• campus
• college
• illinois
• prosthetic
• accessible
• shawna
• culp

[AKPegleg]

What’s wrong with this video? She is wearing a $60,000 Otto Bock C-Leg and getting around in a wheelchair!!!!!! She needs to watch HawthoRNe on TNT to see how to use her prosthesis.

[Christy715]

@AKPegleg Shawna helped me make this video, but it is supposed to illustrate how the general population of wheelchair users struggles with accessibility. That does not mean she doesn't know how to use her C-Leg.

[davieli]

I'm currently a college student in Iowa, and I have been wheelchair bound since birth. So I might make a video now, thanks for the idea.

[Christy715]

I'm glad you're considering it! I feel really close to the issue of accessibility, since two of my best friends use wheelchairs. I'd love to see your video when you're done!

[delilahrock10777]

These are serious problems that need to be fixed, Shawna is an amazing lady and i am glad she is speaking out on these issues

[Christy715]

@dancho85 The U of I does indeed have such maps. I agree that I could have added more elaborate arguments about the daily life of a wheelchair user. However, this video is simply intended to show the daily struggles of someone using a wheelchair to get around campus. If you try to navigate without extensive prior planning, it is difficult. If I remade this video, I would add that the campus should aim to make it accessible enough for people to get around without looking at a map first.

[metalmigrant]

I enjoyed the video, thanks for making it. I also use a wheelchair and can walk. Sometimes I am able to use my advantage, but usually the poor access affects me the same. I can't see what would change things. Maybe something that used to be said,"Forget pity, disability is a civil rights issue." If the able-bodied majority saw people with disabilities as equal, they would insist on changes. I don't expect this to happen in my lifetime. Good luck with school.

[beber696]

Thank you for this video. It's hard to be in a wheelchair, it's harder when places are not accesible. Thank's again.

[MultimodalProject]

0.00 to 1.15

3:22 to 5.28

8:15 to 8.48

[lagomorphics]

I went to Carleton University in Ottawa and I use a wheelchair for all of my mobility. Carleton has a VERY good campus for accessibility. They also have a great attendant services program, and two great disability services, one academic, one more socially oriented. All the buildings are connected by underground tunnels, and that solves the access problem caused by the massive snowfalls.

While it can be a little confusing at first, after a while you find the campus is very easy to get around