Does YOUR fraternity/sorority house meet ADA requirements?
 

ADA= Americans with Disabilities Act

So, while researching something on the Daily Cal (UC Berkeley's student run paper) I came across an article http://archive.dailycal.org/article.php?id=27027 about a wheelchair bound young woman who went through recruitment back in 2004. The article was written in 07'.

I was surprised by this:

"Currently, a majority of the fraternity and sorority houses do not and are not required to abide by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, said Jamie Wilson, the disability access specialist from Disability Access Services.

Because the Greek houses are not federally funded and stood before the act was passed, existing facilities are not under its jurisdiction, she said.

“If they haven’t done any major renovations since the ADA, then they are not in violation of the ADA,” Wilson said. "

In the beginning of the article, she states that she felt she didn't get extended a bid to any house because of her chair. But she also mentioned she was a senior. My first thought was "she was a senior= no bid."

Anyway, after reading the rest of the article, I started to wonder if the CAL houses are up to code (I'll look into it) and then I wondered about greek houses across the U.S. in general.

If you're in or was in a housed chapter, does/did your house meet ADA standards? If not, why? Would it be a financial burden to update/upgrade the home to standards? Did your house have members with physical disabilities?

Our house was built four years ago and we are definitely ADA compliant.

There's a ramp to the front door. We have an elevator that goes to all three levels. One of the bedroom suites is dubbed the "ADA wing" and has wider doors and a wheelchair accessible bathroom. The sinks in the bathroom and in the snack kitchen/laundry room are constructed so that a wheelchair can roll under them. Our guest bathroom is also fully ADA compliant. Oh, and we have two handicap parking spaces in our new parking lot.

Our Cal house is not ADA compliant.

Fraternity and sorority houses are exempt from the ADA requirement. However, many of those built since the law passed do have handicap accessibility. Several of our houses which had first floor guest rooms have renovated them to accomodate handicapped women. Also, some universities have mandated that houses on U land conform.

My chapter house at the University of Tulsa is ADA compliant. About 10 years ago, one of the members was in a car accident, so they reconfigured A 2-person room into an ADA compliant single bedroom as well as the bathroom of that suite.

So the house was remodeled for one member?

Like, that's dope... but... wow. Yall got money. Or fundraised. Or has a well-off someone who can make those decisions.

At TU, there are 15 two-girl rooms*, along with the presidents and new member educators suite. Just one of the two-girl rooms on the 1st floor was reconfigured. The University owns the living portion of the house so the chapter asked the university to reconfigure it. The University of Tulsa is a private university but they were more than happy to do it

* Three rooms (of 2 members) make up a suite which has its own bathroom, so 6 women share a bathroom (with the exception of the suite with the ADA compatible room). Five suites, plus the Prez / NME suite with a connected bath and connected walk-in closet. Total of 31 members living in, but campus total is only 60. The University owns the living quarters of each house due to a longtime scholarship saying that no sorority housing will be on campus. Each chapter owns the front portion of their house, consisting of the living room, kitchen, dining room, house directors quarters, chapter room, guest bath, and possibly a couple of small rooms. The living quarters of every house are the same so no rush advantage for any chapter that might have more money from donors/alumnae. But the front of the houses are different, with unique architecture.

So is the whole house ADA compliant, or just that area?

Proud to add my LXA Chapter at Pittsburg State Un., Ks. is complient to all first floor rooms including one room available.

No, of course not is the basemanet nor the second floor.

Technically, the whole house doesn't have to be accessible for the house to be ADA compliant. We have brand new chapter houses at my campus, and they are all ADA compliant. There isn't an elevator, so the upper floors aren't accessible, but the first floor is fully accessible (all common areas, ADA bedroom, guest bath, main floor bath/shower room, wide hallways, minimal doors, kitchen sink, laundry, safety lights, entrance/egress). If there isn't an elevator, the main floor needs to offer ADA compliant housing, if the house is to be considered compliant.

The sororities at my daughter's campus have elevators, and all are accessible with ADA compliant bathrooms/showers, etc., but I don't think they're as wheelchair friendly as the new houses on our campus.

Just that suite, which has an additional entrance with no stairs, but we were pleased the university made it possible.

I was the Advisory Team Chairman for the DG chapter in 2004 and I remember this well. DG at UCB had a similar incident to what ChioLu described, so there was a suite on the main floor created before I was there that was ADA compliant. I'm not sure if that means the whole house is/was, but we were able to accommodate the PNM easily for our events.

And in related news,

At Dartmouth an old local is renovating its house.

“. . . renovation will increase Tri-Kap’s capacity to 23 beds and will add a handicap bedroom on the ground floor and a five-room suite on the third floor.
. . . Handicap accessibility is a major component of the plan, which also includes an elevator between the ground floor and the basement and handicap access to the ground floor, according to renovation plans on Tri-Kap’s website. “
http://thedartmouth.com/2015/04/09/t...on-renovation/

Our house is not ADA compliant. We are, however, currently running a capital campaign to fund the building of a large second story study room. This renovation fell under current regulations which require ADA compliance and, as a result, we will be adding an elevator for accessibility.