Students at the University of North Carolina Chapel
Hill voice their frustration with campus emergency procedures
and L A fitness faces a lawsuit over disability discrimination allegations.
This and more on today's episode of the disability news report.
This is the disability news report with host Arthur Aste
College is now back in session and hurricane Helene
devastated parts of southeastern United States last month.
Tornado warnings were issued at the campus of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the storm.
These warnings made students aware of how
the emergency procedures on campus need to
be improved to serve the disability community at the college a lot better.
The UN C campus safety website states that individuals with disabilities who
may need assistance during emergencies should
develop their own evacuation plans.
The website contains guidelines on how to assess evacuation options.
Enlist the help of bystanders and inform others of their needs.
A student named Kyra Tiller notes that having students
create their own evacuation plan is severely flawed.
Cairo has epilepsy, a condition that causes seizures.
These seizures can be brought on by the flashing
lights that often accompany alarms like fire alarms.
She created an evacuation plan for herself that involves having her
roommate or another student who lives in the dorm building,
assist her by guiding her out of the building
as Kyra will need to close her eyes to avoid the flashing
lights from potentially causing a seizure when the alarm is going off.
Kyra notes that there is no emergency plan for when she is in the academic buildings
or somewhere else on campus that also may
have the flashing lights during the alarms.
Students are suggesting that it would be beneficial
if there were other students and staff members
on campus who were trained to assist those
with disabilities in case of an emergency.
The UN C campus safety website also states that individuals with disabilities
who may find themselves unable to safely evacuate during an emergency,
should shelter in place
in a secure location or seek a designated area of refuge which
are specific rooms built into some of the stairwells on campus.
These rooms can fit a wheelchair and contain
a two way walkie talkie style communication system
that is linked to the fire alarm control room.
According to the university's environment, health and safety manual.
The concern that students have is that
having students get to the area of refuge can
be an issue if the disabled person is unable to
use the stairs because of their disability or if the
elevator is broken to get to that area of refuge
with the two recent hurricanes,
Helene and milted that caused such devastation
in so many states across the country.
We wanted to make sure that we were highlighting a story like this
to bring attention to the disability community to make sure
that they are not forgotten during these types of emergencies.
Our next story is to boldly go
John mcfall hopes to be the first astronaut with a disability.
The European Space Agency is testing to see how conditions in space would affect.
Paralympian sprinter John mcfall and his prosthesis,
John lost his right leg at the age of 19 in a motorcycle accident.
And in addition to being a Paralympic sprinter winning bronze in Beijing.
John is also a trauma and orthopedic surgeon
after a three year process that included six stages
that involved an hours long psychomotor test.
John is on track to be the first astronaut with a disability.
There is no guarantee that he will actually go into space,
but the testing that John is going through and
the training that he is going through with others.
It is as if they were preparing to be on
a six month mission to the International Space Station.
The hope is that by the end of this decade,
Mr mcfaul or someone else with a similar disability
will be able to take a space flight.
This story is encouraging for those of us living with disabilities
because it has started a conversation about what we can do
and what is possible for space missions and people
with disabilities who want to apply to be astronauts.
The European Space Agency is not saying
you can't do this because of your disability.
They are saying it may be possible.
We just don't know yet because nobody has ever done it before.
This has also sparked a conversation regarding euphemisms.
Should Mr mcfaul be called a para astronaut? In response to this, John has said
I'm not a paras surgeon, I'm a surgeon.
I am not a para
dad. I'm a dad.
He described it as a slippery slope to add power in
front of anything that someone with a physical disability does.
He goes on to say and I think that if we continue to use it,
it probably continues to create a divide which isn't necessary.
We wish John and all of the future
people with disabilities who might apply to be astronauts the best
of luck in whatever it is they choose to do.
It is so encouraging to see this story make the news.
Our next story is
a fitness faces federal lawsuit over disability discrimination allegations.
The fitness company L A Fitness is facing a lawsuit by the
federal government for allegedly discriminating against
people with disabilities at their facilities.
The company is accused of violating the Americans with
Disabilities Act by failing to provide people with disabilities,
the equal access to its services and facilities.
L A Fitness is also accused of charging extra fees to their disabled members.
These extra fees were charged to the disabled patrons for their guests, friends,
nurses and personal assistants who were there to
help the disabled patron use the facilities.
It was noted by one us attorney that
we saw people who couldn't access the pool,
people who couldn't access the jacuzzi or shower facilities.
One individual couldn't even access the entrance.
L A Fitness has over 700 facilities across the country.
And through this lawsuit, the DOJ,
the Department of Justice is hopeful to put a stop to the discrimination
and to create changes that will allow people with disabilities to be able to
fully participate in all aspects of the facilities provided by L A Fitness.
A
spokesperson for L A Fitness released a statement saying
ensuring all members and guests are welcome to our
clubs is of paramount importance at L A Fitness.
The company takes its obligation to comply with AD A seriously
and promptly responds to any AD A issues.
We intend to vigorously defend against this action.
We will keep you updated on any new developments on
this story and the lawsuit against L A Fitness.
Our final story is voters with disabilities
are feeling ignored by presidential candidates.
The United States is less than one month away from election day
when we will elect our new president of the United States.
A new report from Rutgers University in New Jersey estimated that
40.2 million eligible voters in the United States are disabled.
This includes 7.1 million disabled voters in the battleground states of Arizona,
Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
While health care remains a major topic of both presidential campaigns,
disability and the well being of those in the
disability community are rarely discussed by either candidate.
Campaign materials including flyers and ads and also campaign
events are often inaccessible to those with disabilities.
And these are just some of the issues that disabled voters
have found in both presidential campaigns that needs to be improved.
Some additional challenges that those in the
disability community face when voting are inaccessible
voting locations and voting by mail procedures
that are not accessible or inclusive.
These obstructions can lead to less participation from those in
the disability community when it comes time to vote.
Another area that the disabled community would
like for both candidates to focus on and
address is the length of time that it takes to get approved for disability benefits.
This is currently a wait time of 6 to 8 months.
Vice President Kamala Harris has met with leaders in
the disability space about transportation issues in the past.
And more recently as part of her presidential
campaign eliminating sub minimum wage for disabled workers.
The election is quickly approaching and we want
to encourage everyone to get out and vote
and to create a plan for voting,
review the rules for voting by mail so that you know your rights and what you
are allowed to do if you need someone to assist you with the voting by mail process
and also if you're voting in person, be sure to research ahead of time,
the accessibility of your polling location
and create a plan that includes your travel
arrangements to and from your polling locations.
We thank you for watching this episode of the disability news report.
This is the disability news report with host Arthur
Aston.