One issue students with disabilities face on campus is accessibility to different facilities, said one student who spoke about her experiences making accommodation requests.

Allison Ousnamer, a senior with cerebral palsy, said UCA could improve on-campus accessibility.

“The onus is on the disabled student to discover that one of the automatic door openers doesn’t work to and from their way to class, and they have to be the ones to report it to the OARS [Office of Accessibility Resources and Services] website,” Ousnamer said. 

Students can fill out a form to report physical access barriers at uca.edu/oars/barrier. The form is sent to OARS and the physical plant.

“The other big thing is they’ve denied a lot of my requests to install more automatic door openers,” she said.

Ousnamer relayed her experience with a request she previously made about using one of the accessibility devices outside Stanley Russ Hall.

“There’s not a lot in that building that is very accessible if you are a chair user,” Ousnamer said. 

Ousnamer corresponded with OARS in a “months-long” conversation.

“And that was when they were flat out denying requests, and it became very adversarial; they didn’t believe me. It was just bizarre,” Ousnamer said.

“I was telling them that it was very difficult, or impossible, to open some of the doors with a mobility device as someone who has cerebral palsy, and they wanted to watch me try to do that,” Ousnamer said.

According to Ousnamer, two OARS employees showed up at the door to Stanley Russ Hall to watch her try to open the door she had requested an opener for.

Ousnamer said it was “deeply dehumanizing and very inappropriate.” 

When speaking further on her experience with interacting with OARS employees, Ousnamer described some of the language as “ableist.”

Ousnamer recalled a conversation she had with one employee. 

“She [the employee] had a friend in college, who she didn’t remember the name of, who also had cerebral palsy. And he also loved to milk the system, which is what she said to me when I made an alternate seating request for one of the lecture halls,” Ousnamer said. 

Ousnamer compared UCA’s accessibility issue to that of the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, from which she transferred.

“Their resource center was not quite as openly hostile to students requesting accommodations,” Ousnamer said. “It seems like the people working at OARS at this university seem to actively dislike disabled people, and think that they are just trying to milk the system by using OARS in any capacity.”

Ousnamer said the one system that works is the courtesy cart transportation. She said it didn’t work efficiently under OARS.

“If you want something to work for OARS, you need to remove it from OARS and run it yourself, essentially,” Ousnamer said.

Of the changes she would make to OARS, Ousnamer stated that she would add more transparency: “There’s not a lot of transparency when you email them or make a request or anything. They don’t get back with you directly very well,” Ousnamer said.

Students with disabilities must register with OARS and provide documentation of their disability to receive accommodations and services OARS provides.

According to uca.edu/oars, OARS’ mission is “to create an accessible and inclusive environment where a student’s educational potential is maximized through the fostering of independence, self-advocacy and individual holistic development.”

OARS did not respond to requests for comment via email in time for publication.

According to the Department of Education’s list of post-secondary institutions under investigation for civil rights violations, the Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into UCA for “Disability – Academic Adjustments” discrimination Nov. 28, 2023.