Audio interviews with former ADA/EEO coordinator Elaine Faculo-Gogue and student Francis Dadufalza
Problem / Status Quo
In the Fall of 2015 a broken elevator at the English and Communications Building prevented Francis Dadufalza a student at UOG from attending classes that were located on the second floor. Dadufalza was accommodated by his instructor and was not marked absent and was given additional time to complete and submit assignments.
the University of Guam has had several incidences of inaccessibility to the second floors of facilities such as the Fine Arts, English and Communications Building, and Nursing building.
According to Okada, UOG Chief planning officer and acting institutional compliance officer, “In regards to the English and Communications building, the concerns about elevators going down have to do with power fluctuations, which may cause burn outs within the elevator systems.”
Okada said, “this is what has happened on both occasions when the elevator was not working at the EC building.
Okada added that at times replacement parts for the elevators must be obtained from off-island and this causes a delay in repair.
“In such cases of elevator unavailability over a certain time, there are alternate considerations to re-locate classrooms to accommodate students with ADA needs.” Okada said
The Law
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) public areas and existing buildings and public places have to be renovated to ensure the buildings and public places can be accessed by individuals with disabilities.
Some issues that must be addressed include making accessible approach/entrances such as the routes of travel, ramps, parking, entrances, and access to goods and services, etc.
All of these areas have to be in compliance with ADAAG as mandated by federal law ADA Section 504 of the ADA.
As stated in the ADA guidelines “All areas of newly designed or newly constructed buildings and facilities and altered portions of existing buildings and facilities shall comply with section 4, unless otherwise provided in this section or as modified in a special application section.”
In new construction, a person or entity is not required to meet fully the requirements of these guidelines where that person or entity can demonstrate that it is structurally impracticable to do so. Full compliance will be considered structurally impracticable only in those rare circumstances when the unique characteristics of terrain prevent the incorporation of accessibility features.
If full compliance with the requirements of these guidelines is structurally impracticable, a person or entity shall comply with the requirements to the extent it is not structurally impracticable. Any portion of the building or facility which can be made accessible shall comply to the extent that it is not structurally impracticable.
According to Elaine Faculo-Gogue former institutional compliance officer, due to the inaccessibility of the second floor at the Fine Arts Building, a building at the Dean’s Circle was converted to accommodate the class until the chairlift was fixed.
Renovations and Future Plans
As far as renovations and upgrades are concerned according to Okada “a lot of these buildings are “grandfathered”, “which means that until such time that a certain level of renovation occurs, which triggers requirements to upgrade.
For the Nursing and Fine Arts buildings, as well as the rest of the facilities on campus, the Physical Master Plan, called Vision 2025, calls for a significant movement to upgrade and improve the campus and services related to student success for the 21st Century. Among those “upgrades” include systems like elevators which will be brought up to current laws and codes specifications.”
“Truncated domes were placed in areas where there was a change in elevation to help individuals with visual impairments navigate around campus. They help the students to create a mental map of the facility.” Faculo-Gogue said
A partial walk-through was done around campus to help determine what improvements had to be done to help with accessibility issues on the campus.
Okada elaborated on the three phases of accommodations.
Phase 1 includes truncated domes (Yellow rubber pads) in selected areas of campus as well as Braille signs within selected buildings to meet immediate needs.
Phase 2 involves expanding these areas for students who continue to have these needs and expand their classroom travels to take upper level division courses by allowing the student to leave class early.
Phase 3 is a longer term initiative that will involve the completion of the campus’ full compliance with the ADA by 2025.