Bakersfield College has many chairlifts around the campus to make access to classes easier for students with disabilities; however, most of these lifts are not in operation and have not been for some time.
According to Paula Bray, manager of maintenance and operations, these lifts are located in the Humanities building, at the exterior of the Student Services building, Language Arts building, Speech and Music building, and Science and Engineering building. Two are also in the gym.
“The ones that are currently working are the ones located in Humanities, SAM and both that are in the gym,” said Bray
These lifts are not for public use. To be able to use them, a student has to have a key.
“At the beginning of the semester, students will need to go to Disabled Student Program and Services to get a key in order to use the lifts,” said Angelica Gomez, director for the disabled students program.
“We consider this a challenge and want to provide access to every student,” said Bray.At BC there are access ramps near all the buildings that they have built to accommodate the need of the students with disabilities.
According to Al Wheelchair Ramps Guide, “The Americans with Disabilities Act require that buildings be constructed with ramps to allow people in wheelchairs to have access. Failing to meet this requirement can put owners at risks of being sued.”
BC has taken into consideration all the rights of their students with disabilities and has made it a safer environment.
“I’m very happy with these ramps here because they help me get to where I need [to go],” said BC student Sara Wilson, who uses these ramps to get to class.
There was a meeting Oct. 13 at the Collins Conference Center from?3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. to discuss the issue.
At this meeting Bray spoke about her plans for the future and the importance of fixing the chairlifts on campus.
“I am very pleased that they are actually taking this issue into consideration. If it wasn’t for this meeting I would not have known that they were even considering fixing the chairlifts,” said Korina Cruz, a BC student who attended the meeting.?
Both Bray and Gomez are working on getting the lifts fixed for students.
There are going to be many changes with the lifts at BC.
In some cases they are looking to replace lifts with elevators, and the SAM building will be completely renovated and will have compliant lifts for students.
Bray and Gomez do not have a date for when these renovations will start, but they hope it will be soon.