When Clara, who uses a wheelchair, visited the University of Birmimgham campus on 29 July, she allegedly discovered that the only pavement with a dropped curve leading onto campus from Selly Oak had been blocked off due to the Commonwealth Games. This made the campus difficult and dangerous for Clara to access. She had to take a long detour up the road to try to find another accessible entrance. Upon once again discovering a lack of dropped curbs, Clara became stuck and “had to be carried by members of the public and the police officers, which was humiliating and demeaning.”
In further visits, Clara says she had to travel on the roads to access campus. With increased traffic and buses owing to the Commonwealth Games, this is extremely dangerous. Due to blockages around campus during the games, Clara experienced further issues as she had to use longer and more uneven routes across campus; this wears Clara’s wheelchair battery down and causes more pain.
It is utterly unacceptable if students are forced to take potentially unsafe routes simply to access the educational facilities that they pay £9k a year for. In this instance, the basic needs of students who use wheelchairs have allegedly been overlooked.
Apology demanded
The University of Birmingham student group DAMSA, or the Disability and Mental Health Students Association, have issued a statement on Instagram calling for a public apology to Clara from the University Estates Offices and the Commonwealth Games organisers. They are demanding compensation for Clara for the “humiliating and unsafe experience and time wasted,” and would like to know whether any wheelchair users or disabled students were consulted during planning for the Games.
If the answer to that question is ‘no’, they demand an answer as to why not and “reassurances that wheelchair users or disabled students will be properly consulted in the future”. You can Repost DAMSA’s statement on Instagram, and use the template in their bio to to write a complaint to the Univesity.
While the University annually celebrates disability awareness week with a programme of lectures, events and drop in sessions, the basic needs of disabled people on campus needed to be looked at more closely in the run-up to this event.
“This is made all the more disgusting given that the Commonwealth Games are supposed to be accessible events; evidently they are not,” DAMSA said. They expressed that they are frequently fighting battles with “poorly maintained lifts and tied up cords in accessible bathrooms”.
Changes needed
Following a string of ableist remarks and actions in popular culture this summer, from Lizzo and Beyoncé using an ableist slur in their songs, to the bullying of Tasha Ghouri, a deaf love island contestant, this more local issue is shocking but sadly unsurprising.
As Kathryn Bromwich argues in the Guardian, “It has been an exhausting summer to be disabled”. We need allies to truly care, to shift their thinking and try to see things the way we might.”
DAMSA are a student group for disabled, neurodivergent and mentally ill students at UOB. They put on regular coffee afternoons for members to catch up at, and raise awareness of different disabilities and petitions through informative resources on their Instagram.