The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was passed to “prohibit discrimination and ensure equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in ... transportation” (ADA). Given such, the University of Washington operates a division under Student Life which assists in providing “Disability Resources for Students,” offering far more than just compliance with federal law (UW). The university serves over two thousands students encompassing physical, health, learning, sensory and psychological disabilities, still a small sector of the campus population. As a result, the DRS division receives less funds and benefits to create and update their resources for students, staff, and faculty with disabilities. The fundamental intention behind the American …show more content…
While ample physical resources are available in the form of access points built and integrated into each of the campus’s buildings such as ramps, elevators, and automated doors to help the mobility impaired, the usability and quantity of resources that document these are insufficient when compared to equivalents for the rest of the student population. This generally leads to inefficient route plans for the mobility impaired and results in a lack of equal opportunity. A study which supports this point was done in 2002 by the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where it measured the length of time it took for students to travel to class. The study showed that the mobility impaired had an average travel time between lectures that was eleven minutes longer than those not mobility impaired (Losinsky, Levi, Saffey, & Jelsma, 2002, p. 305). Since the mobility impaired may need to use physical resources such as ramps, elevators, etc., they are limited in the routes they can take and will often be unable to use the most efficient route. Taking this into consideration, the university should provide material to help shorten their travel time. However, there seems to be a difficulty in utilizing the materials that are currently available to the mobility