WHEELS ON CAMPUS -- A GUIDE TO WHEELCHAIR-FRIENDLY HIGHER EDUCATION (part 11)

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

TAMU’s wheelchair-using students are served by the uni­versity’s Department of Disability Resources. 

Kristie Orr, DDR’s director, oversees 17 staff members and about 15 stu­dent workers. 

For 22 years, she has advocated for the social model of disability on the TAMU campus — emphasizing that a disability is part of an individual’s identity, not a problem or something to be fixed. 

She says there are accessible rooms in more than a dozen residence halls on the TAMU campus, which she favors versus clustering all students with disabilities in only one or two dorms.

For students who use wheelchairs, this approach opens many doors that in years past created bar­riers instead of opportunities.