Disabled BYU students campaigning for better access, services

Five student activists calling themselves the BYU Equal Access and Disability Rights Commission have launched a campaign seeking improvements to campus access and services.

The group began emailing a document to BYU faculty and staff this week that accuses the university of not complying with “the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Thus, knowingly or unknowingly, BYU has created a culture of ignorance and dismissal towards some of its most vulnerable students.”

Before the email campaign began, BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins told The Daily Universe the university strives to comply with all ADA requirements in its self-regulation.

BYU Accessibility Center Director GeriLynn Vorkink said that while BYU does not fall under regulation of the most recent updates to disability rights, BYU is still subject to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act from 1973.

Kendra Muller-Taylor said she founded the Equal Access and Disability Rights Commission when she realized that the frustration among her peers with the University Accessibility Center implied a systemic problem rather than just a few bad experiences. Muller-Taylor said the issue of discrimination is more obviously apparent in the physical accessibility of campus.

Muller-Taylor has pursued a major in psychology and a minor in business management at BYU and even aims to pursue a law degree in disability rights. Earning her education, however, and even accessing a classroom, she said, has been a battle every day.

Muller-Taylor describes entering a building as a frustrating, sometimes impossible, experience. Many of the buildings on campus do have a disabled button to automatically open the doors, but the problem, Muller-Taylor said, is that the buttons are often placed too high or too low to reach, and trash cans are often placed right in front of them, blocking her reach. Even if the button works, she said, it is usually timed wrong, and by the time she can grab her wheels and push ahead, the door has already closed.

“It’s not as much a physical thing as it is a social thing,” Muller-Taylor said. “Preventing equal access for me just internalizes in my brain that I’m dumb because I can’t even open this door. And then the person I have to ask for help is immediately triggered to think disabled people can’t do anything for themselves.”

The Daily Universe newsroom staff checked buildings across campus on Feb. 28 and found 30 door access buttons buttons out of 114 it tested were either broken, out of sync with the doors or obstructed by an object like a bench or a box. In the Brimhall Building, where the Universe newsroom is located, a project to move the elevator buttons to make them more accessible has been underway for several weeks but is not yet finished.

Struggling to be heard at BYU when she’s sought basic support from the university in situations as trivial as fixing broken handicap buttons is what Muller-Taylor said inspired her to take action with her friends to ask the Accessibility Center to reassess its student service.

Jenkins said that if a student reports a handicap button is broken, the Accessibility Center will refer the student to Access Services to deal with the repair.