Assignment 2.1 - Getting in the door

Longstreet – Means is the largest freshmen dorm at Emory University. There are more than 300 freshman students who live here, thus building a community of their own. Initially Longstreet and Means were two different dorms, which were bought together during the 2010 renovations. Due to this reason there are numerous entrances to enter the building, there is the main door and three other back entrances. Even though it is a back entrance many people use it because it is closer to their dorm rooms, and hence more convenient. In analyzing one of the three back entrances I was able to see how find numerous ways it could be inaccessible to disabled people, especially chair users. The universal design for a door to be fully accessible even by chair users is 36”, when I measured the opening of the doorway was only 34” wide and thus everyone would not be able to use this entrance, even though it is more convenient. Another issue with the door is that it is extremely heavy, even for a completely able person I sometimes find it difficult to push open the door, so for a disabled person the task would probably be even harder. There are two mats placed one is inside the building next to the door and the other is outside. Both these mat maybe an obstacle to disabled people, as they have an uneven surface and the edges are high, making it difficult for chair users to get off the mat. These inaccessible routes to enter the building were not deliberately made; nut nonetheless should be fixed, to ensure equal treatment of disabled people in the community.