Life for a disabled person is certainly difficult, and that is especially true for any disabled student living on campus at Saint Anselm College. Jake Lessard, 20, a junior Criminal Justice major from Greenfield, NH, knows this first hand as he recently broke his leg in a motorcycle accident and currently hobbles around campus on crutches.
Saint Anselm College, known for its Benedictine hospitality, generally is very accommodating of students; however, in regard to those disabled or handicapped, Lessard says the college still misses the mark.
“[Getting around campus] is very difficult for me. It seems like anytime I want to go somewhere on this campus, it involves either a big hill or a lot of stairs. It isn’t easy doing stairs on crutches and they are everywhere.” Lessard said going anywhere on campus is “very slow.”
Lessard, who races motocross competitively, broke both his tibia and fibula in his left leg and has been on crutches for nearly two months now. Lessard’s roommate Dan Bolger, 20 of Williston, VT, also a junior criminal justice major, shared his perspective on his roommate’s experience.
“It is much harder for him to get around campus. He seems down most of the time because going to school with a broken leg is really difficult. Even going upstairs to his room is tough for him,” said Bolger.
Of course, Saint Anselm College is not completely oblivious to the needs of its handicapped students. In regard to what has been done to make things easier for him Lessard said, “I have a handicap parking permit and I get a lot of offers for rides from different people, including my fellow members of the King Edward Society.”
One recent change seen on campus is the installation of automatic doors. Many different buildings on campus including Alumni, Gadbois, and Davison are now being equipped with handicapped accessible, automatic doors. Lessard was thrilled about the installation of these doors.
“[The doors] are great. Opening the back doors of Alumni was really tough but now it is a lot easier,” Lessard said.
Lessard views the new doors as a good start in making the campus more handicapped friendly. However, when asked if more change is needed, he said, “Absolutely.”
One area of difficulty for Lessard is the inefficiency of elevators, most notably in Alumni hall which is where he has most of his classes.
“I’m often late for my classes because it usually takes five minutes or more to go somewhere on the elevator.”
So while Saint Anselm does clearly recognize that the campus is not as handicap friendly as it could be, evident by the installation of the automatic doors, more needs to be done. Both Lessard and Bolger agree that more needs to be done for students with disabilities.
“I don’t want any other student to have to go through what Jake is going through,” said Bolger. “He isn’t getting the full college experience right now because it is so hard for him to get around on this campus.”