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Stanford
Pursues Accessibility but Overlooks Basic Solutions
By Malia Mendez
February 23, 2022
Stanford helped fund the research that
produced the newest
smart
cane, but leaves its campus golf cart service for students with
disabilities out of operation on weekends and neglects to train its faculty in
digital accessibility.
It's just one example of the
university's misplaced priorities when it comes to accommodations for students
with disabilities, panelists said at a Stanford Engineering lecture last
Tuesday, January 18th in Lathrop 282.
The panel was hosted by Adjunct
Lecturer David L. Jaffe as part of his course ENGR 110: Perspectives in
Assistive Technology (AT). Panelists Cricket Bidleman MA '22, Mary Cooper '22,
Bhavya Shah '24, Tilly Griffiths '22, and Eric Sibley, MD, PhD. spoke about
their disabilities and the accessibility resources they use at
Stanford.
During his presentation, Shah, a blind
student studying mathematical and computational science, challenged the notion
that the only way to transform the lives of people with disabilities is through
"out-of-the-box" solutions.
"Every three months, you will find some
smart cane or smart guide dog, which is supposed to be a transformative
navigational system for blind people. Whenever I and a bunch of other blind
geeks take a look at [these inventions], we just laugh it up and move on," Shah
said.
Rather than manufacturing new "smart"
tools that are too expensive and impractical for their intended users, Shah
recommended those interested in AT look at existing tools and consider how they
can be upscaled or made more affordable.
One example Shah offered was Stanford's
Disability Golf (DisGo) Cart Service, a Stanford Transportation system that
helps students with disabilities to more efficiently travel around
campus.
Though DisGo is helpful to students
during the week, it doesn't run on weekends-when students are arguably most
active, according to Shah. He said that expanding DisGo's hours of operation is
an example of "low hanging fruit" as far as accessible accommodations
go.
Sheila Sanchez, Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) program director at the Diversity & Access Office,
says DisGo is funded by revenue from parking permits and other systems managed
by Stanford Transportation, which has decreased during the pandemic. To
maintain and expand DisGo, Stanford Transportation would need fiscal support
and explicit guidance from campus administrators.
"Senior leadership would need to say,
'We think having this weekend service is something that's necessary, and here's
the funds to support that,'" Sanchez said.
DisGo's Manager Sunny Shergill says
that the service easily hit 100 rides a day pre-pandemic. Nowadays, they
complete around 60 rides per day, which "compared to what it used to be, is a
piece of cake," Shergill said.
Sanchez says that DisGo's funding and
hours of operation will be discussed by Stanford's new Disability Task Force,
headed by Vice Provost for Student Affairs Susie Brubaker-Cole and Vice Provost
for Institutional Equity, Access and Community Patrick Dunkley. The task force
first met on January 19th and plans to produce a report about disability
accommodations on campus and ways to improve them by the end of winter quarter.
Unfortunately, campus administrators
have yet to make similar steps toward promoting digital accessibility. Robin
Cole, the alternate format and assistive technology manager at the OAE, says
that this lack of explicit guidance from university leadership is a barrier in
AT. Cole's statements do not represent Stanford or the OAE.
"I wish there would be a more overt
directive from Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Persis Drell that digital accessibility
matters and is something that needs to be thought about all along the way.
People have the right intentions, but they don't have the awareness. To me,
that's something that is missing from the top down," Cole said.
Bidleman, a blind student who
passionately advocates for disability justice, concurred with Cole that
students and faculty are often inadequately informed about and insufficiently
trained in new innovations in AT.
"I don't want to spend a lot of time
bashing someone who has good intentions," Bidleman said. But when researchers
do not market their products or train people to use them, she added, they "mean
very little."
Even Sibley, who learned to use a left
foot accelerator to drive and enters his office via remote control-operated
doors, said that there are likely accessibility features on his iPhone unknown
to him.
Stanford's administration and
researchers have ultimately fallen short of empowering Stanford community
members with disabilities. Still, Cooper, a para-athlete on Stanford's women's
rowing team, expressed gratitude for the support she's received on campus.
"My main thanks really goes to the
students and the professors [who've] worked hard to create an environment
that's super accepting," Cooper said.
Though each panelist offered a unique
perspective on Stanford's resources for those with disabilities and the nuances
around AT, they all agreed that it is an exciting time to be working in
accessible design.
Griffiths, who advocates for students
with disabilities as part of Associated Students of Stanford University and
Stanford Disability Alliance concluded, "There really is so much to learn every
day."
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