So, recently I sprained my ankle and luckily I was able to walk around without any assistance, but it dawned on me, “What if I couldn’t take the stairs?” After observing the campus, I realized that the handicapped walkways are inconvenient. Just to get from the Dining Commons to Meiklejohn Hall, you would have to cross the intersection and either go left and all the way down the hill by the stop sign, turn right and go through the parking lot to get to the automatic door or go down the incline through the main part of campus, backtrack to head towards Meiklejohn Hall and go around the incline and so forth.

That was lengthy to read, let alone have to go through on a daily basis. Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about having to go through that, but what about the people who do? Handicapped laws have been set in full force and CSU East Bay has acknowledged those laws. It’s unfortunate that those who are in wheelchairs have to accommodate so much in order to make it to class. It is really inconvenient to have to leave at least ten minutes earlier than the average college student and then have to make your way through campus with all of these road blocks and construction.

CSUEB should make better accommodations for those who are handicapped. It’s appreciated that there were efforts made, but it could be a lot better. This campus is filled with stairs everywhere and it can be quite the task to have to carry books and so forth in a wheelchair. Of course there is always the option of using a power chair, but those things can be so bulky and make it even more difficult to navigate in class.

I pride CSUEB on how diverse it is, and how you can see almost any kind of race, religion, shape and color here, but better efforts should be made to make CSUEB a good experience for everyone.