By Ryan Wilson, Editor
Imagine getting stuck on the second floor of Menard Hall. You can’t use the steps, elevator or jump through any windows. If you go down the steps, you may not make it out alive.
Now imagine that a fire started on campus and smoke is quickly filling every square inch of the building.
What do you do?
“I didn’t do anything,” said Alexis Wernsing, now a student of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Just sat at the top of the stairs.”
Her experience was a fire drill. There was no fire, no smoke, no life-threatening hazards.
“That is the only fire drill I ever remember at Lincoln Land, and the police officer basically told us to carry the chair down the stairs,” said Wernsing, who uses a power wheelchair. “My chair weighs probably seven times what Thom (Thomas Whalen) weighs.”
What if there was an actual fire? What if smoke slowly encased her lungs, so she couldn’t breathe?
“The art department discussed it for a day or two and decided that
if there ever was a fire, Al (Shull) would take me out of my chair and just carry me downstairs,” Wernsing said.
But what if no one was around?
It would have resulted in a lawsuit for Lincoln Land.
A similar situation happened to another LLCC student in a wheelchair and me on on Friday, March 17, after there was a school-wide power outage.
The campus police did not know we were stranded on the second floor until two able-bodied individuals walked over to the police station.
While we waited 20 to 30 minutes for an officer to appear in the hallways, which were dimly lit by only two iPhone flashlights and an emergency light.
The first officer on the scene thought the elevators would work with power.
After some disagreements with his coworkers, he realized that it wouldn’t. The elevator outside the Art and Humanities office was, in fact, stuck on the first floor.
The only other option was for Lincoln Land faculty, staff, students and police officers to carry our wheelchairs down a flight of steps.
So that’s what they did.
The other handicapped student was easily carried down a flight of steps by some generous honors students. But her chair is a lot lighter than my behemoth, which includes hydraulics and a bigger engine and tires.
It took three police officers and one lean Chris Barry to carry my 350-pound, $35,000-chair down the flight of stairs in the A Lincoln Commons. Barry is the school’s director of retention and student success.
I nervously watched them do this from a seat on the first floor in the commons, after my mom — with her heart anxiously pounding — carried me out of my chair.
Barry and the officers looked as if their lives were on the line. They weren’t, but their wallets were.
I can’t thank the honors students, LLCC police department and Chris Barry for helping us in the situation. Without you, we would have set up a tent and campfire outside Tim Humphrey’s office. Humphrey is the dean of arts and humanities. Thank you again.
Let’s make sure that (1) we all know every plan. Clearly, not everyone knew the rules, despite the procedures being posted in all classrooms.
(2) Let’s think about the disabled students.
Surely, Lincoln Land Community College does not want any fatalities on campus because students are stuck inside.
I know the school’s enrollment would be up if it was more accessible.
I am proposing several solutions to prevent LLCC’s disaster waiting to happen.
We need to buy generator. OK, I admit, this may be too expensive.
If it is, get a backup power source for the elevators. Whether it’s a small generator or even a simple crank.
However, all Lincoln Land elevators are already hard to use, even with the school’s power working.
The elevators’ buttons are way (way!) too high for individuals who use wheelchair.
Wernsing said she had to wait for someone to press the buttons in the elevators for her.
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Photo by Alexis Wernsing)
“I guess I don’t mind much because people there (at Lincoln Land) are always willing to help,” she said. “That doesn’t solve the problem, though.”
Wernsing said the elevators should have a set of buttons lower to the ground.
Lincoln Land needs to have more wheelchair buttons that start from the ground up.
There are a combined seven of such buttons in Menard and Sangoman Halls. Two of those buttons – one of which is often hidden behind a trash can — are to enter and exit the library. The other three are for the entrance in the A. Lincoln Commons.
It is almost as if LLCC is trying to keep us out. Really?
The school also:
- Needs reachable entrances into bathrooms
- Needs to let senior citizens and handicapped individuals park alongside Menard Hall. We should be able to park in the lot between Menard and Cass Gym. The Board of Trustees members and President Charlotte Warren currently have designated parking spots fewer than 20 feet near Menard.
We need to fix these problems.
It will cost thousands, if not millions, of dollars, but it will be worth every penny.
It may even increase enrollment, giving the college more money.
“Obviously in today’s times, accessibility is of huge importance,” Wernsing said. “People need to be aware. But what I appreciate at Lincoln Land is that people do whatever necessary to assist diligent students in learning. Whatever it takes. I hope to be teaching there in a couple of years.”
Ryan Wilson is the editor of The Lamp and also uses a wheelchair. He can be reached at (217) 786-2311 or [email protected].
Correction: The “College Inaccessible” story that ran in the April 15, 2015, edition of The Lamp should have been labeled as an opinion piece.
The front-page column was not intended to be a factual account of inaccessibility. It relied upon the author’s personal experiences and observations as a student in a wheelchair.
The Society of Professional Jouranlists maintain a Code of Ethics that The Lamp and all journalists attempt to abide by. Within its prescriptions for journalists, it states, “Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.”
The Lamp erred in failing to clearly label the article as commentary. We regret the error.
