On the 17th of January 2025, Darcie (VP Education) and Elena Brake (Student of Mechanical Engineering) organised for the Vice Chancellor (Professor Richard Davies), and Director of Estates (Trevor Wills) to be taken on a tour of campus from the perspective of a wheelchair user. 

Starting the tour in Babbage, Elena guided the VC and Trevor through an average day navigating campus as a wheelchair user, highlighting the struggles that many able-bodied people wouldn't usually notice, including navigating doors without self-opening buttons, out of order lifts, and uneven pavement surfaces. Alongside speaking on her experiences, Elena and Darcie offered the VC and Trevor the opportunity to experience these daily struggles in a wheelchair of their own. While students with long-term experience of using mobility aids may make navigating these spaces look easy, the team quickly learned that it was much harder than it looks.

It's an eye-opening experience to see a wheelchair users journey on campus from their perspective. It gives you greater understanding at how difficult it can be on to study on campus. - Professor Richard Davies, Vice Chancellor

Conversations during the tour revolved around the complexities of navigating campus as a disabled student, such as what happens when you get to your exam to find out the lift is out of order, what happens when you're struggling to get around the steep hills of campus, and how wheelchair users navigate fire alarms on campus.

Overall, the tour opened the opportunity to have honest and constructive conversations about how the university can do more to support disabled students and staff to travel around campus without obstructions. Good practice around campus was also acknowledged, highlighted where areas have been improved thanks to previous feedback and how these sometimes small changes have a large impact on disabled students' experience.

Image descriptions:

Image 1: A group of four people: Darcie, Richard, Trevor and Elena on the grounds of the University of Plymouth. Elena is at the front of the group, sitting in a wheelchair, all are smiling for the photograph. Richard is pushing an empty wheelchair which was being used for the tour.

Image 2: Elena and Richard are both in wheelchairs, both seen from behind, Trevor is stood behind them. Elena is demonstrating difficulty going through the door.

Image 3: Trevor is sitting in a wheelchair and trying to navigate through a door.