Five flights upstairs to some may seem simple. For someone older with asthma, however, each step may feel like one more toward a mountaintop, risking crucial consequences.
As the escalators in Moody Learning Center are known to malfunction every once in a while, the only other option for a student with asthma problems is to take the elevator. But without an elevator pass, the student has to obey the rules of limiting elevators to faculty, staff and students with disabilities.
One student who suffers from asthma was kicked off the elevator Oct. 14 by an adjunct faculty member who told her she needed to have a disability card or take the stairs. She asked that her name be withheld.
While walking from the second floor to the seventh, the student suffered a minor asthma attack. This student, however, was never informed of how to obtain a disability card.
Although students without a pass from disability support services are not allowed on, and faculty and staff should enforce that rule, DSS Chair Maria Gomez said it is still wrong to pass judgment on anyone and eject them.
Gomez said no condition is based on degree to be considered a disability.
"We do have a number of students that have documented asthma along with everything to weight problems," she said.
Regina Pino, coordinator of DSS, said, "Something that makes you dysfunctional is considered a disability; a disability may be invisible."
She said a disability is not limited to something physical but can also be mental and emotional as well. "All (a student) needs to do is communicate (their) needs."
Temporary, courtesy cards are available for students who recently have undergone surgery, are pregnant and the like.
DSS also offers student services such as application, tutorial and adaptive softwares along with operating systems and furniture and equipment, depending on a student's disability.
To register a disability, students need documentation, such as an unrelated doctor's diagnosis, medication prescription, or another written statement on their disability. The statement does not have to be from a certain time frame just as long as it is up to date.
DSS is mentioned in the student development and orientation classes as well as the student handbook; currently, registration is in effect until the beginning of next semester.
For more information, contact DSS in Room 124 of Chance Academic Center 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
Students also can reach DSS by phone at 733-2347 during office hours.
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