PIERCE COLLEGE : Wait for Wheelchair Ramp Is Over

For months, Pierce College student Coral Markle could be found in her wheelchair on the asphalt, copy-editing stories outside the student newspaper office, often throwing rocks at the door when she needed to speak to classmates inside.

Markle also worked without the benefit of computers that other student journalists used because the newsroom bungalow was not equipped with a wheelchair access ramp. On Thursday, however, the 39-year-old student was able to join her newsroom colleagues after college officials installed the access ramp that she had requested last September.

“Yes! I’m in the newsroom!” Markle, 39, exclaimed as she entered the doorway for the first time. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Last fall, Markle notified college officials that she would need access to the building by early February, she said. A beginning journalism student, Markle planned to join the Roundup newspaper staff in the spring, which would require her to work in the newsroom.

However, the ramp had not been installed by February and Markle was left outdoors.

“It makes me feel like a subhuman and a second-class citizen, which I’m not,” said Markle. She has depended on a wheelchair for the past 3 1/2 years, after a stroke. She also suffers from multiple sclerosis.

David Bush, building and grounds administrator for Pierce, said he was notified by college officials in December about the need for the ramp. He said that maintenance workers considered several possibilities, including building a permanent concrete ramp.

Two permanent electric lifts were ordered. But one was canceled because it was too short and the second order fell through, he said. Eventually, they decided on a $1,500 temporary ramp, which took campus carpenters two days to build.

“We could have got her in the building sooner if we weren’t looking at a permanent ramp,” he said.

Another two electric lifts, costing a total of $13,000, have been ordered, Bush said. One will replace the temporary ramp and another will be used in a photography lab.

Don Love, acting vice president of administration, whom Markle said she notified in September, refused to discuss the issue.

State and federal laws require that physically disabled people be given access to public buildings.

“As I understand it, we have to make reasonable adjustments for the disabled. In this case, we made every effort, we just came across some roadblocks,” said Daniel Means, college president, adding that educational funding is tight.

Mike Cornner, journalism instructor and Roundup adviser, said he felt Markle missed out on valuable newsroom experience that other students had. “I feel she’s been cheated, but it’s not her fault,” Cornner said. “The college is 100% in the wrong. They should have had that ramp installed at the beginning of the semester. They were given enough notice.”

“I shouldn’t have to fight for something that I’m entitled to,” Markle said.