The University of Texas follows three federal laws relating to accessibility among institutions of higher learning: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. These laws protect individuals with disabilities from being denied from programs, or discriminated against by the institution, based on their disability.
The UT Office for Disability and Access also provides accommodations for students who are affected by limitations as a result of a disability. Students who register with D&A can request classroom accommodations, testing accommodations, priority registration and access to student groups, scholarships and resources. According to the D&A website, 3,885 students are registered as of spring 2024.
Despite progress, advocates say there is more to be done. Although the University is required to comply with all ADA regulations, not everything on campus is compliant. Furthermore, advocates say true accessibility goes beyond ADA requirements. Two organizations on campus that are bridging the accessibility gap are the Disability Cultural Center at UT and the Disabilities Inclusion Agency of Student Government.
“Accessibility looks like a lot of things,” DCC director Emily Shryock said. “(We) look at that very broadly through the Disability Cultural Center: What does physical accessibility look like? What does classroom accessibility look like? What does workplace accessibility look like? (We are then) able to host conversations, bring people together and build community around those different experiences.”
The DCC was established in January 2023 and is the first and only center for disability culture in Texas, Shryock said. The DCC works with other disability-related units on campus, like D&A and the ADA coordination team, to identify and address unresolved issues through education and advocacy.
Campus ADA Coordinators Jennifer Maedgen and Stephanie Myers lead the President’s Accessibility Committee, which works with a variety of offices and student groups to ensure that all areas of campus life are accessible. They are also members of the ADA Prioritization Committee, which uses feedback data from student groups, faculty and visitors to allocate about $3.5 million per year to accessibility projects on campus.
Most of that budget goes to physical accessibility, as construction projects tend to cost more in material and labor. This isn’t their only focus, though — Maedgen said the team is requesting funding to establish a Digital Accessibility Center, which would centralize digital accessibility resources like captioning, text alternatives, web accessibility and other services that are developing as technology changes.
“Accessibility is an institutional responsibility,” Maedgen said. “We want our campus to be a welcoming environment for people of all abilities. It’s something the University takes very seriously, and I’ve been really proud of our efforts.”
On the student side of things, the Disabilities Inclusion Agency advocates for students with disabilities under the executive branch of Student Government. Government and economics senior Hrishi Marakani and public relations and business junior Ashley Goforth serve as co-directors of the DIA, working to create legislation that educates the community, highlights student voices and brings accessibility issues straight to University President Jay Hartzell.
“Our goal is to create a more disability-inclusive campus at UT,” Goforth said. “We make it more accessible (by) increasing awareness and acceptance of the disabled community through educational events.”
DIA events include American Sign Language workshops, accessibility panels and professor roundtables, which aim to cultivate a safe place for students with disabilities. At professor roundtables, disability professionals meet with UT faculty to facilitate discussions about making classrooms more accessible. This could include physical access to a building, as well as understanding when students need extra help for academic success.
“(Professors) want to be able to provide an environment that allows students to succeed, but they don’t know how to approach these topics,” Marakani said. “Starting that dialogue and educating professors on the right steps to set up an accessible classroom does a lot to create an environment that students are comfortable and able to thrive in.”
Linguistics professor James Fazio teaches ASL to hearing students and echoes Marakani’s beliefs. Fazio, who is deaf, said he enjoys creating a bond between the deaf and hearing communities. Some of his students go on to be interpreters, allowing further inclusion of individuals with auditory disabilities.
“It’s nice to be able to understand where deaf people are coming from — their community, their culture, their language, a broader understanding,” Fazio said. “I love being able to support that and build bridges between the Deaf and the hearing community.”
In addition to community-building and raising awareness, the DIA is currently working on a service project with the UT Office of Planning, Design and Construction focused on ensuring all campus crosswalks and curb ramps are ADA-compliant.
“We’ll look at (broad) areas, like if there’s a conglomeration of curb ramps and crosswalks in a single location that is not compliant,” said Corbin Garcia, project compliance coordinator with Campus Operations. “We can (then) set up projects to address those issues and further improve accessibility.”
Once the team collects ADA-compliance data, they will verify their findings then go on to make the necessary improvements to ensure UT’s crosswalks and curb ramps are ADA-compliant. This project is currently in its planning phase, and Garcia expects to conduct the compliance survey in the spring. Depending on the data they receive, Garcia said construction could take anywhere from six months to over a year.
“I feel access has improved significantly across campus,” Garcia said. “We’re being more mindful of accessibility in the pre-project design phase, all the way to execution and afterwards. (We are) being more tactful, more strategic and understanding of what the needs are.”
The curb project is part of a larger project by the DIA to track and document where there are barriers to access on campus. Marakani said this is hard to address because there is no centralized system for documenting building features, and there is no curated list that defines the locations of accessible resources. Each individual building manager has to be contacted to find out what accessibility features are in each building, which makes it harder to organize upkeep.
“A lot of times, things like disability and access can be lost in the cracks of putting everything together,” Marakani said. “Our project is focusing on tracking and documenting where there are issues on campus … and bringing attention and awareness to those things.”
Though they may not lead to immediate change, several pieces of legislation from Student Government have impacted the structure of the University throughout its history, Marakani said. For example, legislation created the Flawn Academic Center and transformed Speedway from a road accessible to vehicles to a pedestrian walkway.
“It’s important to push advocacy at all times,” Marakani said. “Change is spurred from outside forces upon an institution that is hesitant towards changing the status quo. … We have the things we do now because of advocates in the past, at UT and around the nation. It’s the responsibility of all of us to continue those changes for a better future, for the students of today and the students of tomorrow.”
While there’s room for improvement, Shryock said UT is leading the way for accessibility on college campuses, and she hopes that initiatives like the DCC will have a significant impact on campus in the future. Shryock said it’s important that everyone contributes to improving access, whether that is in a professional, academic or personal role.
“You don’t have to have a disability to care or learn about accessibility,” Shryock said. “We all benefit when we have a more accessible campus … it impacts all of us when our campus isn’t accessible, when everyone doesn’t have the opportunity to get where they need to go and complete their school or work responsibilities.”
Nothing is ever “good enough,” Goforth said, until every facility is accessible to all. She said she hopes that education can create more allies and more advocates for accessibility.
“Nothing gets done by standing still and waiting for someone else to do something,” Goforth said. “As students, it’s important that we keep fighting for change. … It’s so important to be loud and bold, and not stop until campus is accessible for everyone.”
