Marshall University ranks high among the best handicap accessible campuses in West Virginia, according to students and faculty.
“Accessibility and convenience is the entire reason I choose Marshall,” said Brian Nestor, junior communications major.
Nestor has been in a wheelchair his entire life.
The technical term for his condition is Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a condition that causes extremely fragile bones.
“I feel really lucky,” Nestor said. “I don’t have to struggle. It’s different. I can open doors. I’m independent and don’t need anyone to take care of me. I drive a car, I do all that.”
West Virginia’s geography is what makes accessibility a difficult task.
“Marshall is really good with accessibility in this state because there are so many mountains and hills, but Marshall is pretty flat,” said Sandra Clements, Office of Disability Services coordinator. “Unlike some of the other campuses, our campus is relatively close together.”
Nestor visited several campuses in West Virginia, including Alderson-Broddus, West Virginia University and Fairmont State before making his decision to come to Marshall.
“I’m from the Morgantown area and my sister went to WVU, and it was hard for her to get around because the campus is so spread out, and she’s not disabled,” Nestor said. “I wasn’t trying to make things hard on myself. Marshall was the logical choice.”
“At Marshall, it is relatively safe to cross the street,” Nestor said. “There is really no place on campus that isn’t accessible, and there are some decent ramps.”
Nestor said the faculty is one of the key advantages of Marshall. They go out of their way to make it convenient for him.
“I think Marshall does a good job of doing all that we can,” Clements said.
The Physical Plant made more than 35 concrete repairs this year around campus, along with making four regulation abilities, which are guidelines, laws and regulations dealing with disability issues from the Americans with Disability Act.
The Physical Plant makes ADA standards their first priority, said Mark Cutlip, director of the Physical Plant.
“We just received and replaced the entire sliding door, and we will be installing a new ADA regulation elevator into Harris Hall that should be in place and operational by December,” Cutlip said.
The reason for the prolonged Smith Hall door issues was that the sliding door was shipped overseas and recently came in.
“We rarely get complaints, and we fix the problems immediately,” Cutlip said.
“Marshall does a good job, but they are not perfect,” Nestor said. “I know the Harris Hall elevator is really small and people in electric wheelchairs have a hard time navigating, and the sliding door in Smith Hall has been broken for a really long time and I happen to be lucky enough to be able to open the door. However, others may not.”
Dale Osborn, assistant director of the Physical Plant, said it’s hard to keep up with technology because of the budget and the building is old, but he said it’s their first priority and they do the best that they can.
“I don’t speak for every disabled person on campus, just me,” Nestor said, “I feel blessed that I’m totally self-sufficient. There are others that have more severe issues than my own.”
Breanna Jones can be contacted at jones435@marshall.edu.
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