Editor's note: Sun Star Reporter Tav Ammu recently spent a day in a wheelchair traveling around campus in an attempt to understand the inherent difficulties of using a wheelchair at UAF.

After first checking out a loaner wheelchair from Disability Services, located across the street from the Wood Center, I tried to get back down to the lower campus dorms through whatever means possible. Originally the idea of going through the Wood Center seemed like the most logical (and warm) possibility, but it also happened to be the second day of snowfall, and ice covered the sidewalk.

I slid right past my exit to get into the Wood Center and had to take the scenic route instead, past the old bus stop.

As my wheels spun on the ice, leaving me stuck in one spot, a passerby shouted out, "Why don't you get studs for that baby?"

"Holy crap," I thought at first. "I'm getting heckled for being in a wheelchair." Then I realized that studded tires would really help. Earlier I figured the ice would not be too much of an obstacle, but after it took me about half an hour to go 100 yards, I changed my mind. It felt like my arms were ready to fall off, and for the life of me I could not figure out how to get anyone's help.

This frustration was only compounded when I had to fold myself into the elevator at the Wood Center. I tried three different modes of attacking the obstacle of fitting the wheelchair and myself into an elevator, which was about the size of a shoebox. After the door closed on me half a dozen times, I was ready to get up and just push it in by hand. People sitting drinking coffee and relaxing were forced to ignore random expletives and the ringing sound of metal hitting metal.

Even people I knew would not make eye contact with me. It was an outcome I had never expected. It's understandable that people don't want to be caught staring at someone in a wheelchair, but to refuse so much as eye contact with a person, just because they're sitting in a wheelchair, is harder to excuse. I never expected this and had to literally run into some of my friends for them to actually realize it was me and therefore OK to look.

Mary Matthews, coordinator for Disability Services, had some reasoning for these responses.

"It's a case of prejudice," Matthews said. "If someone is racist and looks at a black or Native American, it's not as scary as looking at someone who's disabled. Simply because that person (doing the looking) could never be black or Native American, but they could be disabled."

When I rode to class, people would mostly deny my existence. If a person saw me out of the corner of their eye, they would rather cross the street and walk out of their way than risk an awkward interaction with someone with a disability. At first I thought this was kind of humorous - how scared the average person was of someone with a disability - but after I spent more time in the chair I was disappointed, annoyed and longed to be normal again. I wanted to no longer be treated as an outsider, as an outcast.

Matthews said this was very common. "(A person with a disability) is no longer a full member of society. Everyone wants to be included, not treated like children, condescended to, or considered different."

"To change this problem," Matthews continued, "people have to experience something themselves. Movies today do a good job showing the integration of people with disabilities." However, this is not enough she said. "People have to see that an adult who's hurt isn't a child. Students with disabilities can do just about anything that students without can."

The day I had the wheelchair, I showed up to my first class half an hour late. After the next break, when I was barely able to get into the door of my second class before it began, I changed my approach. I decided to check out some of the buildings as well as the transportation around campus.

I waited for about half an hour at one of the shuttle bus pick-up points before the shuttle that was equipped for wheelchairs finally showed up. They gave me a phone number to use whenever I needed a ride, and when I tried it, I was picked up and on my way in less than 15 minutes.

My school-wide tour took me to the Natural Sciences Building, where I could not find any of the handicapped buttons that open the doors. After I left the building, I decided to skip the shuttle and just head down on my own wheels. At a few spots where the sidewalk was in desperate need of repair I was forced to go off-road. Matthews said this was a major problem in the last couple years during the museum's renovation. "There was a blind student who had to memorize the geography of the school," Matthews said, " When the construction changed the route every few days, it made it quite unsafe."

"Our number one priority is identifying students who need extra help. Once we achieve that we're able to overcome the obstacles that they'd have in their life day to day."

Despite the problems at Natural Sciences, I was impressed with nearly every other building. They all had handicapped door openers, wheelchair accessible bathrooms and adequately sized elevators.

All except Gruening, that is.

The elevators were quite roomy, the handicapped doors were hardly necessary because of the students constantly coming and going, but the bathrooms, on the other hand, had some room for improvement. After trying and failing to get into a bathroom on the first floor, I was so embarrassed I decided to move to the next building.

Constitution Hall was basically impossible to maneuver through. They had a wheelchair lift to get to both the post office and the bookstore. I didn't even give it a shot, choosing instead to go to the Rasmuson Library.

Although this campus can be tricky for students with disabilities, the uncontrollable climate and terrain are responsible for the majority of complications. The Center for Disability Services offers many programs to give those with disabilities extra assistance. A monthly newsletter is provided that offers paid internships for students with disabilities.

"The world isn't stacked in favor of the disabled," Matthews said. "We try to not only help them graduate from UAF but to also have connections to outside resources, have new levels of responsibility and overcome barriers that in the end make them stronger people."