Word: forde
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Even when elevators are working, entrapment remains a risk. Joe A. Ford ’06 took a Spanish class last year that required him to go to Lamont’s language lab regularly. The elevator that goes to the sixth floor was almost too small to fit his wheelchair; he could edge himself in, but once there, he couldn’t reach the buttons...
Problems for Ford began as soon as he arrived at Harvard. The University is not required by law to supply an aide for Ford, who has cerebral palsy and needs help with everyday tasks like brushing his teeth and getting dressed. It took three months for Ford to find an assistant he could afford. In the meantime, family members took turns living with...
...Ford also ran into trouble when classes began. The buildings where one of his courses was held was not accessible by wheelchair. Ford missed lecture until the class was moved. Kessler had the same problem—she missed three sections of a class held in Grays basement because the lift that helped her get to the room required a key she didn’t have...
...Ford or Kessler gone to another college, they probably would have run into the same kinds of difficulties posed by inaccessible buildings, shopping periods and unanticipated technology failures. But the rough spots might have been smoother...
...Yale, for instance, an administrator would have contacted Ford before the start of shopping period to find out what classes he planned to attend. Then, before lectures ever began, the administration would make sure to place Ford’s anticipated classes in accessible buildings. And in the period when Ford was still searching for an aide, he could have turned to the Special Needs Awareness and Peer Services (SNAPS), where student volunteers on call from 8 a.m. until midnight would have helped him with everything from laundry to grocery shopping...