Christopher Ikonomou, a UCLA student and president of the Disabled Student Union on campus, noted to the Daily Bruin recently that "disabled students often have difficulty navigating campus, obtaining academic accommodations from professors and confronting ableist attitudes... I would generally say it (UCLA) is not a super welcoming environment for disabled students." Ikonomou and other students added that the extensive amount of stairways without ramps on campus, a general lack of inaccessible pathways, a lack of elevators, an unreliable shuttle system, and "discriminatory attitudes toward disabled students on campus" all "exacerbate the existing challenges students with mobility difficulties face" at UCLA.
Although UCLA offers BruinAccess, a free van service to help disabled students navigate its hilly terrain, students have reported that the service is extremely unreliable. "I could literally wheel in my wheelchair and get to there (class) faster than it would be for me to wait for a ride. After 40 minutes pass, I’m like, f— it," commented one student to the Daily Bruin. Several disabled students have noted that the unreliable transportation services have negatively impacted their education, reporting to the Daily Bruin that the frequent delays have caused them to be late to class or to have to lose hours in their days waiting for bus service. In at least one case, a student had to drop classes after realizing that they were "not going to be able to ever get to any of [their] classes."
Last year, Daily Bruin reported that "The [Center for Accessible Education] has been stretched thin for years. Last fall, three specialists served 3,843 registered students, resulting in a ratio of 1,281 students per specialist – 1,148 more than the national average of 133 students per disability specialist." This unusually high ratio, which compromises the individualized supports that disabled students need when seeking accommodations, caused one student to ask rhetorically in a recent op-ed, "How can an organization designed to meet the accessibility needs of its disabled student body be so inaccessible in nature?"
This year, two UCLA students filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging that "multiple UCLA academic facilities do not have accessible entrances and furniture... that buildings lack or have incorrect signage about where accessible pathways are, and pathways both indoors and outdoors are often blocked or obstructed." A student also claimed that "he experienced difficulties securing accessible transit via BruinAccess, which requires that students needing a lift for their BruinAccess vehicle reserve a ride at least 24 hours in advance – a request the complaint said is a violation of the ADA."
An op-ed in the Daily Bruin observes that UCLA's campus is a sensory minefield for neurodivergent students. "Nearly every space on campus where students are allowed is filled to the brim with exorbitant sensory stimuli: the lecture halls, the dorms, the dining halls, the restaurants, the gyms and the libraries. There is almost nowhere for students with sensory issues to escape to."
UCLA is the top-ranked public university in the country, according to U.S. News. It was ranked 15th among national universities both this year and last year.
“I have had to sacrifice my comfort,” Siegel said. “I’ve had to trudge down the stairwell and up the stairwell, which has caused me to miss classes and have to replace extended deadlines on assignments because that caused me to feel even more unwell and unable to tend to my academics.”
Unreliable elevators are not just an inconvenience, she said, but also a painful obstacle that creates an inaccessible campus environment for her.
Roxas Hayes, a third-year disability studies student and a member of DSU, said the unpredictability of elevators forces them into exhausting and painful situations that have made them feel excluded and undermined their experience on campus.
“If I have to walk up stairs, I’m going to be in so much more pain than I have to be,” Hayes said. “Being in more pain means I have less capacity to do my schoolwork.”
Hayes said the elevator in Ackerman Union is frequently out of order and is not fixed in a timely manner, despite being a high-traffic elevator.
UCLA administration’s lack of urgency to inspect the elevators emphasizes their apathy for students with disabilities, Hayes said.
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As a student registered with the CAE, I often feel like a very inconsequential part of a bureaucratic system, confused and unable to get the help I need due to impersonal procedures. In my experience, the process of being approved for academic accommodations took the entirety of an academic quarter, despite beginning the process during the first week of instruction. Additionally, within only two years at UCLA, I have had two different disability specialists, with a period of months between my assignments, meaning I was left with access to only generic services over that time span.
Recent issues with the CAE’s Housing Services for the 2024 to 2025 academic year have left me without the necessary accommodations my disability requires. After multiple failed attempts to speak with housing staff over the phone and email, I found myself in the CAE’s physical office pleading to speak to a staff member.
However, I was refused the opportunity to do so and told by a student worker that UCLA Housing is highly understaffed and will only accept communication through email, despite the urgent nature of my issue. A CAE proctor reaffirmed the student worker’s claim and informed me that there have been multiple meetings regarding the understaffing issue, which have gone only in circles with no tangible progress made in filling any vacancies.
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Julia Alanis, a fourth-year music history and industry student, said that last summer, she had to drop a class because CAE disability specialists were not available to help her request an extension for one of her assignments. Her specialist was transferring to another job, and she was later assigned to a second specialist who was also in the process of leaving, Alanis said.
“I couldn’t find somebody to contact,” Alanis said. “I ended up just dropping the class because I thought it was easier than trying to find somebody to help me.”
However, self-advocacy – the only other option when specialists are unhelpful – places an unnecessary burden on students, Bogue said. She added that the time and energy required to advocate for herself by collecting documentation to show both the CAE and professors has been taxing both mentally and physically.
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Some students said they had better luck bypassing the CAE office entirely and speaking directly to professors, Bogue said.
Fier’s professors, on the other hand, were generally either unwilling to help or did not have the ability to provide specialized accommodations without additional support from the CAE or the university, she said. Fier, who required virtual and hybrid learning formats for illness-related accommodations, said one professor stopped responding to emails about her accessibility concerns entirely after becoming frustrated by her requests, despite continuing to respond to emails from other students.
Gwendolyn Hill, a fourth-year psychobiology student, said it is taxing to reach out to professors and then be denied accommodations.
“It’s been very, very frustrating and emotionally draining, and honestly, I would say relatively traumatic to try and reach out,” Hill said. “It’s all reliant on what the opinion of the professor is, and if they say no, then they say no.”
Solone said that the university needs education for all faculty related to universal design for learning and how to make their classes more accessible so that students don’t have to continuously advocate for themselves in the first place.
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A former UCLA medical student filed a lawsuit June 1 against the UC Board of Regents, UCLA Health, the University of Southern California and Los Angeles County alleging she was discriminated against on the grounds of race and disability.
Dr. Melani Cargle, who attended the David Geffen School of Medicine from 2015 to 2020, additionally sued the university and county in the LA Superior Court on the basis of failure to provide reasonable disability accommodations, alleging that she was denied these by USC, the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the county. She also sued on the basis of sexual harassment, claiming in the lawsuit that her supervisor at UCLA made inappropriate comments toward her, colleagues and patients.
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