Accessibility has been an ongoing issue on college campuses across the world. Many campuses were built without accessibility in mind, and BYU is no exception.
Emily Wisehart, a disabled BYU student shared her experience navigating the campus.
“Sometimes there’s a really, really thin area for people to walk, and I’m trying to maneuver through with my crutches and I kind of get run over from all sides," Wisehart said. “I can either go through that area or go all the way around, which is already exhausting."
Wisehart is currently serving a service mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and plans to return to BYU in fall 2026 to finish her senior year.
She was diagnosed during her freshman year with a neurological disorder that causes seizures, as well as fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. Wisehart said there were multiple occasions when she had to push for professors to allow her to use her accommodations from the University Accessibility Center.
“I have an attendance accommodation, and I had multiple teachers who would take attendance. If I was late or couldn’t make it that day because I was having seizures a lot, I would have to fight them to actually use that accommodation and not lose points. It was a battle,” Wisehart said.
A study published in "Social Sciences and Education Research Review" recommends focusing on universal design to give all students an equal opportunity to learn. It also calls on higher education institutions to better address accessibility needs.
BYU’s University Accessibility Center (UAC) works with students to improve campus accessibility for a range of needs. Ed Martinelli, the director of the UAC, says that he wishes more students knew about the accommodations available to them.
“You don’t have to have everything all lined up — documentation and a diagnosis and all that kind of stuff — come talk to us, we’ll hear what’s going on and we’ll see what you have to do to qualify for the services we provide,” Martinelli said.
One of the accommodations that the UAC provides is helping students that use mobility aids to find parking spots. Priority is given to students with the highest needs, but there are other options available when space runs out.
“There aren’t enough handicap parking spaces. The solution they came up with is that if you have a handicap placard, you can just park wherever you need to as long as it’s not for police or service vehicles,” Alaina Hall, a BYU student, said.
Hall is an ambulatory wheelchair user, meaning she is able to walk and stand for short periods of time, and uses a wheelchair to conserve her energy.
“I’m fine because I can walk to the back of my car, but if I needed a ramp to get out of my car, I’d be out of luck,” Hall said.
BYU students have created the Equal Access and Disability Rights Commission, a website that shares student recommendations for improving campus accessibility and tracks the university’s progress.
As an acting major, most of Hall’s classes are held in the West Campus Central building. Due to transportation challenges between West Campus and the main campus, she takes her general education classes online.
“The ramp that they take scooters down even specifically says that it can’t be used as a wheelchair ramp. It’s not accessible because legally it has to be a certain number of feet per incline,” Hall said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires wheelchair ramp slopes to follow a 1:12 ratio, meaning for every 1 inch of vertical rise, there must be 1 foot of ramp length. This standard helps ensure wheelchair users can navigate ramps safely without tipping or gaining excessive speed.
The UAC works to address accessibility issues as they arise and includes a section on its website where students can report concerns.
The UAC recently addressed a concern about access to basement classrooms in the Kennedy Center when an elevator was out of service. Classes were temporarily moved to another building until it was repaired.
“We meet our accessibility requirements, but sometimes not in the way people expect. We move the classroom — we don’t say ‘Never fix the elevator.’ We move the classes where they can be accessible and we get the elevator fixed,” Martinelli said.
While some accessibility concerns are physical, students say social perceptions of disability also play a role.
“The trouble is internalized ableism. It’s the belief that disability is somehow inherently a bad word or a failing on the individual’s part,” Hall said. “The number of times I’ve heard things like ‘Oh, you have superpowers’ or ‘You’re just differently abled’ — disabled is not a bad word, and trying to make it cutesy diminishes everyone’s experience.”
While BYU continues to address accessibility concerns, students say challenges remain in both the physical environment and how disability is understood.