This article is part of our accessibility campaign at Salford SU, highlighting real student experiences and what inclusive facilities mean for day-to-day life at Salford.
“As a third year student at The University of Salford and a partial wheelchair user for nineteen years now, naturally using a wheelchair comes with its own set of challenges: uneven paths, difficult to open doors and some very tight lifts for wheelchairs and wheelchair facilities being difficult to find. Being a wheelchair user comes with a long list of challenges.
Thankfully I’m not a full-time wheelchair user so these issues don’t plague me every day, but sometimes when using a prosthetic leg is out of the question and I have to use my wheelchair for recovery purposes then accessible facilities are key to keeping a day-to-day student life possible.
I often find myself having to be patient as lifts are tight and often only one wheelchair user at a time can use the lifts. Sometimes the problem is finding the lift: when you meet in certain rooms for specific events for example and the event is on a different floor, it isn’t always obvious for people who can’t use stairs what the appropriate lift route is, and you often have to navigate through rooms that aren’t in use to get to the event in question.
I’ve had issues at times just finding disabled toilets and when they aren’t available I have to resort to leaving my wheelchair outside an ordinary toilet just to use it, which won’t only be inconvenient to me but other people trying to use the same space or spaces around it.
When I need to use my wheelchair, quite often it’s goodwill from the staff and students that helps me with things like doors that aren’t automatic, but I never like to depend on that as people can’t always be around to help you or are too busy to help. So appropriate disabled facilities are essential for wheelchair users just trying to get through the day and complete their assignments like everybody else.”