Despite Lacking Sight, Some Still Harbor a Vision for Columbia

Cyril Phatshwane, a master’s student at Teachers College, is blind. Forty-three years old and with a wife and kids back home in Botswana, he is pursuing a master’s degree in the teaching of students with visual impairments. He takes classes, teaches, and uses a computer. According to his roommate, Michael Feyen, Phatshwane is highly independent and “an excellent cook.”

There is just one problem—due to the city’s refusal of his request to install an audible traffic signal at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 120th Street, Phatshwane cannot even cross the street.

Phatshwane and Feyen first requested an audible traffic light on Aug. 9. On Oct. 22, they received a letter from the New York City Department of Transportation rejecting their request. The department cited, as its reason, the fact that “such lights are generally installed near facilities for the visually impaired and at intersections that would present difficulties for pedestrians with visual disabilities to cross safely and effectively.”

Feyen challenged the rejection, saying, “If you have ever visited the intersection, you will know that there is no way you would cross with your eyes closed.” He also noted that Phatshwane’s master’s program is located right at that corner. “There are a lot of blind students enrolled in that,” Feyen said.

Keith Bray, the acting Manhattan borough commissioner, was unable to comment by press time.

Sheena Iyengar has been pushing for an audible traffic signal since 1998. Iyengar is a professor in the Management Division of the Columbia Business School and has been blind since birth. She tried to go through the administration of the Columbia Business School to get the light installed. “It sat in the Dean’s office, the president’s office; I never got a response to my e-mails,” Iyengar said.

Iyengar said she deplores the state of accommodations for the blind at Columbia, noting that the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University, which she previously attended, have better infrastructure for the disabled. She said she relies on the kindness of strangers and security guards to help her cross the street or hail a cab.

“There is a lot of individual helpfulness, but if you don’t have a procedure in place, it can become hit-or-miss,” she said.

Phatshwane also has trouble getting around the Teachers College building where he lives and studies, since some of the elevators aren’t equipped with any sort of auditory notification to signal the floors. He has spoken with the Teachers College’s Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities, but has received little response. “I still have to rely on other people in the elevator, if there is anyone,” Phatshwane said. “My main worry is my lack of independence.”

As an international student, Phatshwane had the added challenge of adjusting to a disability in a new country. “Especially when you’re an international student, it’s a bit frustrating and demoralizing if people don’t care,” he said. He expressed frustration with Columbia’s approach to diversity, saying, “Columbia prides itself on being a university that respects diversity, but I don’t think they care.”

Deborah Groeber, Law ’95, had a better experience. Born with Stargardt’s Disease, she is both deaf and blind. “The school I was in accommodated me tremendously,” Groeber said. At Columbia Law School, Groeber attended classes with a guide dog and interpreters. She was provided with a Braille printer and a closed-captioning television. According to Groeber, when her computer broke down in her apartment across the street—a potential crisis since it contained software uniquely configured for her disabilities—the Law School sent someone to fix it.

“At graduation, one of my classmates came up to me and told me how they hadn’t thought I would make it through, or that I would be a good student, and they were really surprised,” Groeber said. “At the end of it all, I really surprised them. Without those accommodations, I would not have done nearly as well.”

But Groeber said there is room for improvement. “People need more exposure, experience, and education about people with disabilities,” she said. “The University can help by providing reasonable accommodation and by integrating people with disabilities—possibly having more faculty members or staff with disabilities.”

Sara Maria Hasbun can be reached at saramaria.hasbun@columbiaspectator.com.