Campus Accessibility During Winter

Have you noticed how much snow is underneath your feet during winter on campus? In a climate like ours, snowfall and storms are an inevitable part of student and faculty life on campus. And while during a storm plowing is difficult to navigate, once the sky is clear there is an assumption that streets and sidewalks will be too.  

However, many students and staff have noticed a less-than effort by StFX to clear the walkways and paths of snow by the time that campus opens after a storm. Roads and parking lots are decently plowed and salted, but sidewalks remain hard to navigate, with dense, packed snow more present than solid ground. Not only is this difficult for able-bodied individuals, but it is also especially difficult for anyone walking on campus with physical disabilities and mobility aids. For this article, I sat down with two disabled StFX students, August Duquette and Ash Jolly, to discuss the current state of accessibility on campus.  

Ash Jolly uses a wheelchair and crutches as mobility aids to maneuver around campus and revealed to me that he has been having issues getting around. On the first major storm day that Antigonish experienced, they were completely unable to leave their dorm due to the condition of the ramp outside MSB. While there were no classes, Ash pays for a meal plan, and due to the snow on ramps and sidewalks, he had to order food from elsewhere to eat that day. This has been a problem since the break, and during the month of January they have paid over $200 for food and missed 5 classes due to improper walking conditions.  

Ash has contacted Facilities Management several times about plowing and salting the ramps and sidewalks, and despite reassurance that they will be able to get around freely on campus there has been little done. He remarked that even when ramps and sidewalks are plowed, oftentimes there is still a layer of snow underneath people’s feet, creating divots and bumps that make it hard to navigate while on wheels or crutches.  

Similar feelings and experiences were shared in my interview with August, who has CMT-1, which mainly affects their balance. This means that stairs with no accessible handrails, and any walkways that have packed snow or bumpy terrain are inaccessible for them. Over the past month, August has been unable to easily walk from their residence to various classes, having to outright miss a class in the Coady Institute due to a lack of plowing and salting on the sidewalks/stairs. They have also experienced several days both this and last semester where they had to pay for food with Morrison Hall being inaccessible.  

August also brought up in their interview the lack of support that physically disabled students have from StFX as a whole. The only service available to contact for campus accessibility issues is Facilities Management, with the other alternative being the Tramble Center whose focus is on academic support. And while contacting Facilities Management should be enough, their responses to both interviewees have been lackluster. They also pointed me to the Nova Scotia Accessibility Act, which states that to have an accessible path snow, water, and ice must all be cleared, with no bumps or slippery surfaces. As StFX has clearly stated they attempt to follow these standards, it is disheartening to see the lack of effort put in to maintain them.  

What many students and staff have witnessed over the past few weeks is that the plowing and salting of roads and parking lots seems to take far more precedence than clearing our walkways, ramps, and stairs. And while both have importance, it’s hard to give StFX grace when you’ve been attempting to walk on packed snow for days while the roads are clear. So, the question remains: how much noise do we have to make for them to see this as an issue? And is it still an accessible campus with how little has been done for the disabled students making that noise?