He claims the school failed to meet his needs when it came to shower accessibility in his dorm room, ramps on campus, the bus system, and tuition rates.
STILLWATER, Okla. – Getting ready for class each morning proves to be a test for one Northern Oklahoma College (NOC) student living on the Oklahoma State University (OSU) campus.
“I had to crawl out of my wheelchair and take a shower on the floor, then crawl back into my wheelchair. I had to do that for four and a half months. Nobody seems concerned,” Mitchell Miller, Muscogee Creek and Seminole, said. “The shower area wasn’t fully accessible. They gave me a shower stool but … I couldn’t even transfer on to it or couldn’t even reach the showerhead from where I was sitting at. There was no way I could use it.”
Miller, international business freshman, questioned the university’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance from when he began attending class in 2007 to his last semester in 2010. He claims the school failed to meet his needs when it came to shower accessibility in his dorm room, ramps on campus, the bus system, and tuition rates.
“I was dealing with a whole list of problems,” Miller, 22, said. “I suffered academically as well as physically with all of these problems and nobody wanted to help me.”
Miller, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 2, said he spoke to the university’s housing department about getting a shower chair since he could not reach the water handles from the bench installed in the shower. He said he was initially told he would receive help in getting a shower chair, but was later told help would not be available, because he previously declined services with the shower bench.
Matt Brown, OSU director of Housing and Residential Life, said he knows Miller and worked with him while he was on campus. When Miller approached him about not receiving a shower chair, Brown said he was not aware of the need or request for one.
“In regards to an additional shower chair, all I can say is that … if somebody contacted Disability Services and they needed an additional chair, we’d do that. In other words, I don’t think there was ever a request made,” Brown said. “Basically my response is, we will provide any accommodation that a student needs as long as we know about it … We’ve been housing students with disabilities for a number of years, and we have the facilities to accommodate … we just need to know what those needs are … to my knowledge we have been able to accommodate every students’ need that has been requested.”
Michael Shuttic, OSU coordinator/ADA compliance officer, said a shower chair is a personal item that can’t be reused by someone else, so students would be expected to bring that item for themselves if needed.
Miller said it took his mother, Marilyn, four and a half months to save up money for a shower chair, and ultimately a chair was donated to him.
“According to ADA standards, in a public building like a dormitory in a school facility everything as to be ADA handicap accessible for everybody,” Miller said.
Another concern was navigating up and down a couple of steep ramps on campus that do not have handrails. He said he had problems going up and down the ramps in the snow and fell backwards on a few occasions. When he made the Disability Services department aware of his concern, he claims he was told the ramps were ADA accessible and handrails were not needed.
Shuttic said the area Miller is referencing “is an ongoing point of interest from an accessibility standpoint.”
“The grade of the adjacent road, the parking lot entrance/exit, and the trash access road all are impacting pieces. Plans already exist to re-work the stretch of sidewalk that includes this section. These plans will incorporate greater path of travel access as it is a sidewalk that is on a steep road,” Shuttic said. “The transportation system (both fixed route and paratransit) are available as well. The fixed route bus has a stop in the parking lot of the area identified (next to The Market food service location).”
The university transit system also posed problems for Miller, who said the bus could not always pick him up because the lift on the bus did not work all the time. He said he would have to wait 15 to 20 minutes for another bus to pick him up, and although the transit department did try to accommodate him, they were not always available to provide him with faster service if they were on a tight schedule.
“I was late to class, I was late because of that situation a lot of times,” Miller said. “All my instructors, they told me just to walk to class, which I did a lot of times.”
OSU now has a new transit system. Half of the buses were replaced in January 2010, and the other half in December 2010.
“We have since replaced all the buses and went with a completely different design in a lift,” Steve Spradling, OSU director of Transit/Parking, said. “They’re all ADA accessible, and all the other buses were too we just had problems with them … It wasn’t an ongoing thing that they were broken, but they did have an issue occasionally.”
Spradling said when Miller asked him about the lifts on buses, he acknowledged the buses break down, then provided him with his phone number, the dispatcher’s number, and the supervisor’s number. “If you can’t get a hold of them, call me,” Spradling said he told Miller. “I said if you need something, you just let us know.”
Spradling said he also helped Miller complete a Disability Services application, since he had not done so. The university has a complimentary service in addition to their fixed bus routes, which runs on campus and throughout Stillwater. It is open to the public and provided by an application process.
“I know a lot of our drivers, especially the paratransit drivers who take their students to and from campus were aware of Mitchell and actually picked him up without request and took him home at certain times when they saw that … it was raining or something. He actually told me that,” Spradling said.
Due to his grades, Miller has not been able to continue school or ride the new bus system. He said he remained a freshman all three years he was there because he was dealing with problems on a day-to-day basis. While enrolled, Miller lived in Bennett Hall. He said he wanted to live in a traditional hall, but claims they are not handicap accessible, and he had problems with the showers, restrooms and laundry. He said everything in Bennett Hall was accessible, with the exception of the shower. He said after his first full semester the price for his room and board went up from $1500 to $2700. He claims he was told his rates would be kept at the same price as a traditional hall rate for all four years he attended school.
Brown said all the buildings on the OSU campus are ADA accessible and they have 65 rooms available on campus that are especially set up and equipped for people who might be in a wheelchair. He said they can house a student in any building, although some students prefer a private shower, but can’t afford a private room. He said Miller was placed in a one-person suite with a private bathroom and he paid the lowest rate possible.
“I’m baffled. This last summer, his mother came in and we went through the bill just to verify that. I haven’t heard anything since. But again, that was an issue we started hearing after Mitchell left,” Brown said.
Since Miller was actually a NOC student, he said he went to NOC administration for help, but was told he had to address his concerns with OSU. He said he felt like he was being discouraged from trying to go back to school, and his worry over his situation is what made his grades drop.
“It’s my life and my education. I’m entitled to it,” Miller said. “I didn’t have the choice to screw up. I was going through something I had to take care of.”
Debra Quirey, NOC Director of the Stillwater campus, said all of their disability certification is handled through the OSU Disability Services department. She is also aware of Miller’s situation and said while he was in class with NOC they made every attempt to adjust for his disability. She said they provided a laptop for him so he would not have to take one back and forth to class; they provided an MP3 recorder so his instructors could record his classes if he was absent and a student worker would then take a jump drive to him so he could hear the lecture the same day; and they made sure his math teachers were in a smart board classroom so all the work done on the board could be saved for him when he went back to do his homework.
“We provided probably above and beyond accommodations for Mitchell than we have previously for any student. As far as the Northern side is concerned, we provided every opportunity for Mitchell’s academic success here,” Quirey said. “We made every accommodation, both academically and financially that we could for Mitchell to be successful.”
During Miller’s plight to find assistance, he found help and friendship from former Seminole Nation Chief Kenneth Chambers. At first Chambers was just someone who Miller could talk to, but as Miller’s problems increased Chambers has took an active role in helping him.
“In his mind, he had exhausted his search for someone to stand by him and help him in his time of need,” Chambers said, describing what Miller told him he went through. “Once I saw that, I said hey this young man is trying so hard and we don’t want him to fall through the cracks, let’s see what we can do. So I called some friends of mine and we made an appointment. We went to Stillwater … when we got there, all they wanted to show us was the buses and I’m proud of them for doing that. I told Mitchell I’m proud of you for taking a stand and making Oklahoma State address these issues, because if you hadn’t nobody would have”
Chambers said during the meeting with the OSU transit department he wanted to discuss ADA issues, but was told they could not talk about the issues since it was not their department, and their answers were defensive.
“Once we touched a subject that was not something that they wanted to talk to us about, I seen how Mitchell had been pushed around,” Chambers said.
Since the meeting Chambers has contacted ADA specialists, civil rights organizations, education leaders, and politicians to help bring awareness and resolution to Miller’s situation. Miller has also found an attorney to help him.
“So we’re just really starting to find out what needs to be done, and we’re looking at culturally what needs to be done for Mitchell; how we can get him to a position where he can forget some of the things that happened in the past and go forward with his life from now on,” Chambers said. “I want him to have the opportunity at Oklahoma State that everybody else has.”
Miller said he wants to be a wrestler for USA Wrestling then eventually travel around the world working for a trade company.
“Wrestling for me is like one step from walking,” he said. “Even though I’m different, I’m still the same when it comes to this sport.”
In the meantime, Miller will continue his campaign to make sure OSU makes the grade so their ADA compliance meets his requirements.
“To get it enforced is like waiting for a kidney transplant,” Miller said. “You can wait and wait and wait for help and then help will never come and it’s too late.”
Miller said safety comes first before school, and he’s not advocating to become a leader for people. He said he just wants to be a regular, good person, not anything higher.
“Why can’t I have the same opportunity as everybody else,” he said. “I’m not ignorant; I shouldn’t have to go through this.”
Anyone concerned about ADA compliance can view the laws at www.ada.gov.