Are Saint Louis University’s Accessibility Efforts Enough to Attract Prospective Missouri College Students With Disabilities?
The availability of accommodations and accessible entrances, bathrooms, and classrooms is essential for students with disabilities. College student, Anna Kocol, detailed that they chose their current school, Western Michigan University, over a college in Illinois because the school had a variety of resources they could provide to Kocol that the other school could not. Kocol stated, “that feeling included and supported by the university they attended was important to them in choosing a school.”
The state of Missouri has had approximately 13% of elementary and secondary education students with some sort of physical, mental, and learning disability over the past ten years. The data below detailed that the number of students enrolled in special education programs has been on the rise for some time, while the number has started to decrease over the past couple of years; the overall number is still higher than the initial 2011 data.
Saint Louis University indicates in its records that they have a high attractability for students from the state of Missouri. The data below details the percentages of students who pay in-state tuition versus those students who pay out-of-state tuition, and there is a higher percentage of in-state than out of state amongst undergraduate students. However, Saint Louis University does not indicate records of the percentage of their students with disabilities.
Although the university does not have any public records detailing the number of in-state tuition-paying students with disabilities at SLU; there is still information to assess whether Saint Louis University has the resources to accommodate the 13% of prospective students with disabilities. The Director of the Center for Accessibility and Disability Resources, Kendra Johnston, certainly believes they do have the resources. Johnston detailed that “CADR meets monthly with Facilities Services to make sure that all buildings on campus are ADA compliant and to develop strategies for making SLU’s campus more accessible.” They also explained that they can provide classroom switches for students when classrooms are not accessible and are working on developing a braille map of campus for students with visual impairments.
Maggie Williams, who had an injured knee for the majority of the 2021–2022 school year, agreed that CADR’s accommodations were helpful. Williams detailed that they “provided some temporary accommodations like late arrivals and dismissed absences,” as well as a motorized scooter for Williams. Even though some buildings, such as Xavier Hall, were easy for Williams to navigate as they said professors were understanding and the elevator was easily accessed, other buildings could still be more accessible. Williams detailed their experience with the difficulty of their residence hall, “I lived in Marchetti East, and the accessibility entrance was at the back of the building. I had to go around many cars in the Student Health parking lot to be able to get to it. To get into the resident lobby: you had to scan in and open the door. There was no accessibility button to open it. I had to scan and quickly back up in the mobility scooter with the door handle in my hand and throw the door open. I would then go forward as fast as I can into the small lobby.” Although many other buildings were easy to get into with their mobility scooter, Williams stated that the size of elevators was also an issue for them. “Some of them (elevators) are super small, and the scooter takes up a lot of room. Every elevator I went into, I had to back out of it when I got to my desired floor. “
Saint Louis University’s Center for Accessibility and Disability Resources is continually working to make SLU a more accessible and accommodating place for students with all disabilities. However, due to feedback from students who have been injured, the university still has improvements to be a university available and attractive to all prospective Missouri students with disabilities.
