Placing the square metal box in her lap, junior Erin Fountain pushes one of the blue buttons on top. Quickly, she pushes two more buttons with her pointer fingers. She glides the tips of her fingers across the surface as different Braille dots move up and down. \nTo some, Fountain's machine might appear to be a hand-held video game. But in reality, the metal box (Braille Note) helps Fountain, a blind student at IU, take notes by voice, tell time and even calculate numbers.\nFor students like Fountain, disabilities can present obstacles in everyday life. But IU, backed by the Bloomington community, is working to minimize these obstacles. Rather than simply raising awareness about handicap needs, they are taking action to cater to the problems.\nFor its efforts, the city of Bloomington was a top-seven finalist the past two years in the nationwide Accessible America competition. This contest, offered by the National Organization on Disability, recognized Bloomington for its efforts in offering disabled citizens opportunities for equal community involvement.\nThese opportunities, offered by both the community and the University, have helped Fountain in her everyday life as a college student.
A life without sight\nA list of Fountain's favorite things suggests she is no different from any college-aged student. She enjoys listening to jazz, watching Lifetime and TV Land and hanging out with her friends. Between taking classes, she likes reading mystery novels, especially those by Agatha Christie.\nHowever, Fountain lives with a disability. She is completely blind in both eyes.\n"It's kind of like being in a room where the lights are off, but where most people see dark, I don't see dark or light," Fountain said. \nSometimes in bright sunlight or if there's a flashlight nearly touching her eyes, Fountain can detect brightness, but she can't actually see light.\nFountain was born prematurely and placed in an incubator. The combination of lung problems and oxygen treatment caused her retinas to come apart, a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity. According to a report from the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Toronto, R.O.P. is now the leading cause of blindness in American children. \n"In a way it's a good thing," Fountain said. "I would've rather it happened that way because I just accept it as another characteristic of myself. It's easier to live your whole life with blindness. It's just how I've known everything."\nBut Fountain did have to make a few adjustments to attend IU. Before entering college, she took a summer program at the University of Evansville to familiarize herself with computerized texts and programs. She then attended Vincennes University from 1999 to 2002, choosing a small school to ease herself into the college experience. Before moving to IU, she visited the campus two to three times a week with her parents to practice mobility and familiarize herself with the campus.\nNow at IU, Fountain finds her fellow students helpful.\n"It makes me feel good settling in when people are friendly and willing to assist me in getting around campus," she said.\nTo assist handicapped students, many other services have also been made available to students like Fountain.
Making the campus accessible\nStudents with disabilities have a physical or mental condition that substantially limits them from performing one or more of life's tasks, according to Disability Services for Students. Such a student might have special needs in traveling around campus or using facilities. Since the enactment of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973 and the Disabilities Act of 1990, IU has taken drastic measures to make the campus accessible to disabled students.\nWhen it comes to campus accessibility, RPS Director of Facilities Larry Isom said IU is in "good shape."\nThe University is currently in the middle of a 10-year renovation project involving dorms and other buildings, all of which will be accessible when the project is completed, Isom said.\nWillkie Quad, where Fountain resides, contains many new furnishings, including ramps, automatic and lever-action doors and handicap restrooms in certain student rooms.\n"Willkie is our latest-renovated building," Isom said. "We probably spent more time and effort in that building because it was totally renovated rather than partly renovated."\nIn addition to housing facilities, steps have also been taken to help students in other areas on campus. For instance, the University added a ramp to the east entrance of Goodbody Hall and platform seating to the auditorium.\nAnother feature, the Adaptive Technology Center, assists disabled students in reading, writing and using technological tools. The Center, located in the new computer area in the Undergraduate Library of the Main Library, offers Braille services, in-home consulting and the conversion of text books onto CDs.\nDisability Services for Students offers additional help. \n"We serve as a resource for faculty and staff as far as what's appropriate to do with disabled students," said Martha Jacques, director of DSS. "It helps everyone get along with their business and allows everyone to do the jobs they came here to do."\nDSS offers peer note takers, testing modifications, interpreters for the deaf and accessible van transportation within campus.\n"Even though there are buses, they still skirt the periphery of the campus," Jacques said. "The vans help students get closer to the buildings. I think it's an excellent service."\nWith two drivers on duty and eight coordinators on the phones, disabled students can generally find transportation available whenever it is needed. Students like Fountain enjoy the service because it allows them safety in getting to class and the opportunity to meet with students as they travel.
Community awareness\nWhile action is at the forefront of problem-solving, DSS employees also provide general awareness about disabilities. For instance, they make sure grounds employees don't block curb cuts (ramp-like portions of the sidewalk) when cleaning snow or place garbage containers in front of door buttons. They also make suggestions to everyone on campus.\n"Don't use handicap spaces, even just for a moment to drop something off," Jacques said. "Be considerate."\nAwareness and accessibility isn't just a campus concern, however. Bloomington as a community has also taken action to provide opportunities to disabled citizens. For instance, restaurants like Laughing Planet and Café Django offer Braille menus. \n"Bloomington has a core group of citizens who have been very powerful voices for disability services," Jacques said. "The Council for Community Accessibility has done a marvelous job of working with businesses, the local mall and other places in town. IU is represented, but this is a community effort."\nAwareness doesn't just involve knowledge of accessible areas. Jacques said awareness needs to start with a more correct concept of disabled students.\n"We try to promote that students with disabilities are students first, and then they just happen to have disabilities," Jacques said.\nAnd this is exactly how Fountain hopes students will view her.\n"I hope people will see me as a very independent person, able to do the same things as anyone else," Fountain said. "If a person with a handicap sees themselves as being capable, it'll rub off on everyone else"
