Campus Accessibility Map published
for students with disabilities

by Tom Uribes

A new 30-page Campus Accessibility Map has been published by the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities.

The booklet details accessible routes and entrances, disabled parking, automatic doors, elevator and restroom locations, ramps, emergency phones, rest stops and campus locations of telephone devices for the deaf (TTDs).

The Space and Facilities Planning Office, with SIM Architects of Fresno, provided the plans for the map on CAD (computer-aided design) architectural software.

About 300 copies of the map - released during Disabilities Awareness Week,

Oct. 19-23 - were printed and are available to all Fresno State students with disabilities, said Ruth Saludes, SSD testing manager, who wrote the grant and spearheaded the project.

The map is also an effort to educate the public on the day-to-day concerns of persons with disabilities.

"I hope this map will stimulate awareness and further discussion on issues of accessibility for persons with disabilities," Saludes said. "I expect the map will teach us much more about how far we must still reach to help make our campus more accessible."

The maps were financed with a $5,000 grant from TARGET Stores and a $2,000 partial donation from Progressive Printing. Ralph Watkins, TARGET Stores manager, presented the grant to the university last February.

Advocates for Students with Disabilities, a student organization on campus, provided consultation and also contributed $250 in grant money it received from the University Student Union Diversity Awareness Program in 1997 to pay for the graphic design and production of a cover for the map. The cover was designed by Rick Powers, a graphic artist and former student with a visual impairment.

The maps are also being distributed to various offices on campus as well as about 10 offices off campus, Saludes said. She plans to maintain the map through the university web site as additions and changes occur in the future.

For more information about obtaining a map, contact Saludes at ext. 8-6972..