Anthony Janolino, a blind SFU student who has been navigating the university’s campus for years, recently suffered a fall that left him with a severe concussion.
The incident occurred on January 26 at the Burnaby campus, on an outdoor staircase between the West Gym and Shell House residence.
This area has a number of staircases in different directions and the set in question was without a railing.
Janolino has long been an advocate for accessibility at SFU, sitting on the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) council as a representative for Students United for Disability Support (SUDS) as well as serving on the society’s Accessibility Fund Advisory Committee (AFAC).
SFU’s 50-year-old flagship campus has proven on more than one occasion to be an accessibility challenge for students with disabilities.
Last summer, SUDS led an accessibility walk across Burnaby campus with the help of the SFSS. Participants were blindfolded, given a few strategies, and led across campus in the dark to demonstrate the dangers visually impaired students encounter on a daily basis.
The reflection pond bridge in the AQ gardens posed a great challenge for the blindfolded walkers. Janolino told The Peak that he himself has fallen off the bridge twice in his post-secondary career. He added that each time he sustains an injury, he files a report, but rarely hears back from the university.
Following the walk, the student groups filed a report with recommendations to make the campus safer, which was presented to SFU president Andrew Petter. In a letter to the university, Janolino referred to the meeting with Petter, saying, “We even went as far as discussing ideas of making non-obtrusive modifications so as the safety measures would not disrupt the design of the buildings and landscape.”
Since then, Janolino noted that he has yet to see sufficient improvements to campus accessibility. “I am disappointed in the lack of change on campus regarding the elimination of hazards at SFU,” he wrote.
In light of Janolino’s most recent accident, which has necessitated his withdrawal from a course, the SFSS has written a letter to reiterate its concerns around the issue of accessibility.
The letter states, “We, the Simon Fraser Student Society, are worried about the recurrence of such an incident. We therefore repeat our request submitted in September 2014 that the University endeavour to increase campus accessibility for all students.”
SFU administration issued a statement on April 3, with the assurance that accessibility issues are important to the university. SFU stated, “the safety and well-being of all students on campus is a top priority. The University is looking into this matter.”
At the latest SFSS board of directors meeting on April 1, board members approved the creation of a temporary accessibility projects assistant position. The hired assistant would work in conjunction with AFAC to assess need and implement improvements to society accessibility.
SFSS president Chardaye Bueckert motivated in favour of the motion to approve the position, saying that AFAC members feel “quite maxed out” and would benefit from additional aid.
Bueckert emphasized a serious need for assessing society accessibility: “We don’t even know in what ways [students with disabilities] are inhibited from participating in the student society.”
She concluded, “I think our job as a board of directors is to support those students and to address the needs that they are articulating to us.”
