Author: Mirin Fader
After surviving a 30-foot vertical drop while snowboarding in Mammoth this past January, Zach Abels (first-year) faced the possibility of never walking again.
Numerous CT scans revealed that the fall resulted in a broken back, a broken spine in three places, multiple cracked ribs, two compression fractures and a burst fracture (a highly unstable condition in which the spine is severely compressed).
Had the fall impacted just three millimeters deeper into his spine, Abels would have been paralyzed for life.
Initially, doctors treating Abels prescribed 90 days of bed rest along with two years of physical therapy to treat his severe injuries. When told that he would have to miss a year of college without the guarantee of a full recovery, Abels was devastated.
“Hearing that I might not be able to ever walk again was, and still is, the most traumatic event in my life. I don’t even know how to put it into words,” he said.
Abels played four years of both high school and club soccer and found physical inactivity frustrating. “Sports are a significant way of how I define myself. It was all slipping away from me, and I couldn’t do anything about it,” he said.
The DWA major was also highly affected by the prospect of missing a full year of school. He was one of the few first-years selected among many upperclassmen for an internship called the CLEAN Car Wash Campaign but was unable to participate.
Because of his strong commitment to academics, Abels immediately sought alternative rehabilitation plans.
“I was driven to come back. I felt like I was being robbed of my academic ambitions, and I wasn’t going to let that happen,” Abels said. “I needed to be at school.”
After further evaluations, Abels finally found a doctor who believed he could fully recover. This doctor gave him permission to return to Occidental as long as he used a wheelchair. He also credits his recovery to a custom-made protective chest plate and back brace.
Calling the change of prognosis a “medical miracle,” Abels has since found new appreciation for life.
“The fact that I’m standing here right now means everything to me. I’m nothing but grateful,” he said.
Though Abels is thankful for his progress and swift recovery, he calls his experiences navigating around campus in a wheelchair extremely difficult and painful.
“Any time I wasn’t flat on my back in bed, I was miserable, close to tears,” Abels said.
Inability to focus in class due to constant, excruciating pain, as well as difficulty traversing Occidental’s hilly campus, forced Abel to reduce his schedule to two classes.
“I couldn’t get anywhere. It was extremely frustrating to find that the campus was not at all built for wheelchair accessibility,” Abels said.
He dropped both his Public Interest Law Practicum as well as his CSP, “The Russian Experience.”
Consequently, he is currently enrolled as a part-time student.
Although ResEd facilitated a room transfer from Chilcott to the wheelchair-accessible Bell-Young, Abels still experienced limited mobility. The curb in front of Bell-Young that he needed to use is currently blocked off by a handicapped parking spot.
Additionally, Abels discovered that the ramp leading to the Cooler is too narrow for his wheelchair.
The ramp behind Johnson also proved too narrow and steep for his use. Though Johnson’s door is wheelchair accessible, just getting to Johnson was an arduous task.
The roundabout journey from Johnson to Fowler took Abels and his dedicated friends 30 minutes every day because there is no direct, wheelchair-friendly route.
Because Abels’ wheelchair was not electric, he could neither efficiently move his wheelchair himself nor open the doors to buildings and facilities. Instead, a few of his closest friends helped him every day — one person pushing the wheelchair and two opening the doors.
His friends, Andrew Featherston (first-year) and Kristina Gustovich (first-year), voluntarily dedicated a large portion of their time to assisting Abels for five weeks, despite their own workload and commitments.
“Without my friends, I really wouldn’t have been able to stay at Oxy at all. I would be forced to leave and miss the entire semester,” he said.
To access the Marketplace, Abels relied on the mailroom elevator. However, the mailroom door is often locked before dinner, leaving Abels unable to dine with his peers.
Abels found his professors extremely accommodating during his time in the wheelchair. Politics professor Larry Caldwell moved his class to a different location to make it easier for Abels to arrive to class on time.
Abels recognizes that his professors were very accomodating and understanding during this time, specifically politics professors Roger Boesche and Thalia González and mathematics professor Jeffrey Miller.
Abels decided to write a “Wheelchair Memorandum” in response to his taxing experience.
He requested specific accommodations from the school, expressing a need to hire a student to push his wheelchair and requesting a few ramps that would facilitate his path through campus.
Abels met with various administrators but felt that his concerns remained largely unaddressed.
“It’s a question of inaction versus action,” Abels said. “I wailed about at the passivity of Administration for a request for specific accommodations. I really needed help, and it just wasn’t happening.”
Although minor alterations were made, such as the clearing of the Bell-Young curb, the changes that did occur happened several weeks after Abels was out of his wheelchair, once he no longer needed them.
Having suffered the semester with the lack of accessibility on campus, Abels is motivated to improve the facilities for future students in need.
“I want anyone dealing with this issue, or who may deal with this issue in the future, to have the opportunity to receive a quality education at an accessible and accommodating school.”
Other students desire similar changes.
Featherston, who accompanied Abels to his meetings with the administration, said, “We’re paying a lot of money for a quality education here. We should have quality accommodations as well.”
Gustovich echoed Featherston’s statement.
“Our school is all about diversity, yet it seems the handicapped are left out. It’s unfortunate that it is taking one person needing accommodations to shed light on the issue — accommodations should have already been here,” she said.
The issue of wheelchair accessibility is important to many people on campus. Professor Boesche, who has struggled with rheumatoid arthritis since he was a teenager, often uses an electric wheelchair to travel around campus.
“Oxy buildings are not wheelchair friendly, but the people are,” Boesche said.
Boesche is driven to and from campus by campus security, and several times the president and administration have traveled to his home to hold meetings. Students have also been very helpful by opening doors for him, but Boesche agreed with Abels’ desire for the college to install automatic doors on all buildings and facilities.
“The administration acts entirely on goodwill. I have nothing but positive things to say about their accommodations for me. I know that we can’t make Oxy wheelchair-friendly overnight, but there are things we can and should do,” Boesche said.
Dean of Students Barbara Avery cited Occidental’s history and topography as major barriers to achieving full campus accessibility.
“We are a hillside campus. The campus was also laid out and most of the buildings designed and built before accessibility was taken into consideration,” she said.
According to Avery, the college’s new buildings are up to accessibility standards, while older structures are being slowly converted.
“New buildings (Hameetman Science Center and Rangeview) are completely accessible, and as older buildings are renovated or remodeled,
we add ramps and lifts, modify restrooms, designate parking spaces where needed and make other necessary changes,” Avery said.
“We have made major strides over the past 25 years to improve campus accessibility,” she said.
Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Life Tamara Rice also acknowledged the importance of turning Occidental into an institution accessible to all students.
She explained that improving accessibility must be a priority not only to meet legal standards, but also to improve the well-being of the Occidental community. “It’s the right thing to do,” she said.
“Oxy is doing the best we can considering the circumstances. However, we can certainly upgrade our campus. The new renovations of Swan and Johnson Student Center will be fully accessible for students,” Rice said.
While handicapped accessibility on the College’s spanning campus is showing signs of improvement, Abels’ troublesome experience indicates that there is much more to be done.
“Everyone needs to be reminded that disabled people are part of the diversity of this campus. Now it’s time to make accessibility a priority,” Boesche said.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
