Basic Mobility

Life is fragile. Imagine your life perfect, and then a freak accident happens that leaves you paralyzed for the rest of your life. You have to learn to function and move all over again. Tasks like opening doors are not as easy to do as they were once before. Now, buildings with several floors and numerous stairs are not as easily accessible for you, and they place barriers in your way. Brigham Young University needs to make its campus more accessible for people with motion impairments.

There are several places on campus that need to be redesigned in order to be more accessible for people with motion impairments. Yes, not everyone is in a wheel chair, but accidents happen and sometimes people are reliant on crutches, canes, and maybe even walkers. Many buildings BYU’s campus have been remodeled to become more accessible, such as the Jesse Knight Building; however, many of the buildings that were built before1990, which is a majority of the buildings on campus, do not meet the Americans with disabilities act of 1990. Not only are buildings poorly accessible, but so are the pathways to get to the buildings. One area in particular that I think needs to be redesigned to be more accessible is the stairways going to the Smith Field House. There is no easy was for someone in a wheel chair to get down to this building. Instead, they must take a detour down the ramp passing Helaman Halls and then back track their way across Canyon Road to get to the field house.

I think it is very important that BYU reevaluate the accessibility of its campus. All it takes is one split second for someone’s life to change, and they campus At Brigham Young University is no longer suited for their lifestyle.