A college student who uses a wheelchair says that she requested an accessible dorm with a bathtub. She was placed in a non-accessible room with a bathtub.
In a video posted on Thursday, Alexa Kate (@alexak8te) says that she requested a “wheelchair-accessible unit with a bathtub” at her university’s housing office.
Alexa says that she was then placed in a non-accessible room that has a bathtub—because the housing office thought she preferred a bathtub “even if the unit is not accessible.”
“What did they think I was gonna do??” Alexa wrote in the video’s caption. “Like if they gave me a [non-accessible] unit that had a tub I would just magically be able to walk???”
@alexak8te what did they think i was gonna do?? like if they gave me a non ada unit that had a tub i would just magically be able to walk???
♬ Wendy Williams Life Could Be Worse – Opal
In a comment on her video, Alexa said that she was told her bathroom would be modified to be made accessible because the rest of the room she was placed in was workable for her.
Under the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) and Fair Housing Acts, private universities are required to “remove architectural barriers in existing facilities” that make such facilities non-compliant with the ADA to make them accessible if the university has the financial resources to do so.
Public universities, however, are required to only make the campus accessible as a whole.
“This does not necessarily mean that a public entity must make all of its existing facilities accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities,” states a fact sheet from the ADA National Network.
Commenters on Alexa’s video shared her frustration, and some said they’re people with disabilities as well.
“They put me in a wheelchair inaccessible flat last year bc I said Id like to be in an all female flat,” @legtty commented. “And they prioritised that.”
“I moved into my ADA unit yesterday,” @vampenguin wrote. “And the door to it literally doesn’t even have a way/button for it to stay open to come in w my wheelchair.”
“They put me on the second floor of the one dorm building that had no elevator when I emailed for accommodations,” @strawbunn1e commented.
