The need for accessibility on Simpson College’s campus has been on the rise as students utilize the college’s accessibility services for a variety of purposes,

The Simpson Accessibility Services (SAS) department helps students adapt to learning and living on campus. Since 1973, all colleges are required to make accommodations available according to The Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

On Simpson’s website, the college states that “the Accessibility Services Director determines if the disabilities interfere with a major life function, such as learning, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing and others. Reasonable accommodations, as determined by the Director, must be provided for all students who have a disability which affects a major life function.” 

In order to be accepted on disability, students need to provide the correct documentation, and any institution that receives public funds cannot discriminate against any disability.

Karen Lynch, Director of Student Accessibility Services, says there’s a bright future for accommodations at Simpson. In an email, she said, “We are working to streamline our processes for accommodations to make sure that people with disabilities on campus get the services they need. We are updating the SAS website [within the page of Center for Academic Resources] to make it much easier to find what services we offer and how to connect with them.”

2023 Simpson graduate Mollie Hinkle started this year as a coordinator for the program.  

“Over the years, both as a Simpson student and in my new staff role, I’ve had and heard conversations about the lack of accessibility on campus – especially for physically disabled folks,” Hinkle said. “I’ve also heard many things about the inaccessibility of the typical academic structure as a whole. What I’ve heard the most of, though, is the desire for disabled students to be heard and understood by faculty and staff at Simpson. Students want the campus community to be educated about disability and what it means in the broader culture.”

ACES (Advocacy, Community, Education and Support) is a group on campus that aims to help bring education about disabilities to the staff and students of Simpson. They meet once a week, and anyone can join, even if you don’t have documentation of a disability. 

Kenneth Norris, a founding member of ACES, said the group is a great place for people to support each other. “We gave Foundations II presentations about raising awareness with accessibility on campus. We also played a bingo game where everybody got to participate and you can see how having certain disabilities affected your ability to move around campus.” 

This group is all about supporting people with disabilities and letting them know they are not alone.

The accessibility department has made great strides to provide accommodations on campus this year, including adding handicap door buttons at Station Square Apartments.

“Overall, there is this desire for a community that can support, protect, and lift up disabled students,” Hinkle said. “But, without the necessary building blocks of widespread empathy, education and understanding, we are at a standstill.”

If anyone seeks accommodations, contact SAS at [email protected]