Affects of the Physical Environment

For students with disabilities, the physical environment plays a large role in the students' interaction.

According to Strange (2000), and Strange and Banning (2001) the physical environment can send symbolic non-verbal messages and can encourage or limit the interactions within an environment.  "The campus physical environment is an important feature that influences students’ attraction to and satisfaction with a particular institution” (Strange & Banning, 2001, p.14).

Nonverbal messages that may be sent to students with disabilities:
-having services on upper floors of a building with no elevator may give the non-verbal message that the institution doesn't care about the needs of students in wheelchairs.  This is an example of how physical structures can give off non-verbal messages(Strange & Banning, 2001, p. 23).

-the quality of the construction of wheelchair ramps. For example if it is made correctly versus incorrectly.  What struck me about this was that it wasn't something I had automatically thought about. To me, seeing a ramp makes me think "we care about the needs of students in wheelchairs" when in reality... this ramp isn't constructed correctly, which gives the nonverbal message to the students in wheelchairs, that their needs are not THAT important. The ramps Owens are functional because they have the ability to carry out the basic tasks However, they are out-of-date, and poorly functioning and poorly constructed ramp gives a symbolic message their needs are not considered The link between the function of something and the symbolic message it gives is “nonverbal communication”(example from Strange, 2000) (Strange & Banning, 2001, p. 16) .Perception is key

-having a sign for disability services with a persona in a wheelchair.  Students with learning disabilities may get the message that disability serivices isn't for them and may not feel comfortable going to receive services.

-landmarks of physical environment may be used by students that are blind.  When these landmarks are changed or moved around this can significantly affect how the student navigates by (Low, 1996)

-Something that Low (1996) emphasized that I had never thought about was the issue of time.  Students with disabilities may have a harder time getting to places in a timely manner.  Scheduling classes isn't just about allowing themselves to sleep in or have no Friday classes.  It's about ensuring they will be able to get there on time and allotting more time in between classes to navigate.

-Signs may play a large role in how accepted and normal a person feels.  If, for example, there are signs all around for the counselling center that seem welcoming and they offer free screenings... a student with a mental illness may feel more at ease to gain help.  This fives a message that the campus cares about students with disabilities and is more inclusive.

It's easy to understand that the physical environment tends to affect those with physical disabilities more-so than students with learning disabilities and mental illness.  Strange (2000) emphasized the importance physical safety and belonging and stated that "Students who lack a basic sense of belonging in an institution, free from threat, fear, and anxiety, will likely fail at other goals of learning" (p.23).  The physical environment is the first place that students gain a feeling of safety and security. Most on college campuses have this fulfill, but students with disabilities, particularly physical, are not given that sense of safety when the physical environment is not inclusive and does not cater to their basic needs.  From the basic demographic information I was able to find (in past entries) it seems that public institutions are much more likely to be inclusive than private (private may not even offer services for students with disabilities). On top of that, the number is growing...this statistic is for all disabilities yet services are still not always available.
Strange, C. (2000). Creating environments of ability. In H. Belch, Serving Students with Disabilities. New Directions in Student Services, Number 91. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 19-30.
Strange, C. C., & Banning, J. H. (2001). Ch 1: Physical environments: The role of design and space. In Educating by design: Creating campus learning environments that work (pp. 9-32). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Low, J. (1996).  Negotiating identities, negotiating environments: an interpretation of the experiences of students with disabilities. Disability & Society, 11, 235-348.