Students living in University Housing with Disability Resources and Educational Services accommodations show a high return rate, often staying for all four years. Each student is accommodated for their needs, whether housing, recreation or dining.
The University offers a range of accommodative housing options, like accessible dorms and private certified housing, through DRES.
“The slowest part itself is just getting registered,” said Madison Fanning, junior in LAS and resident adviser at Daniels Hall. “It’s no fault of DRES, but they’re so understaffed for the number of students that are applying or enrolled in the services to how many case managers they have.”
Students with DRES accommodations in residence halls can stay in what is known as single ADA rooms or true ADA rooms. Single ADA rooms are double rooms designated for one person to live, whereas true ADA rooms offer enough space for the student and their physical assistant to live in.
“The rooms are more for students who just maybe have medical reasons that they need extra space or can’t lift their bed, so it’s a little bit harder to configure the furniture so that it is more accessible,” Fanning said.
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Accommodations aren’t just confined to the dorm room walls. The University makes the rest of the building accessible with automatic doors and ramps to access bathrooms, workout equipment, laundry rooms and dining halls.
“I think that’s important because some people overlook that even if their room itself is accessible, they still have to be able to access the laundry and different things in our building,” Fanning said.
Dining halls offer alternative meal options for students with severe allergies or dietary restrictions. ISR and Ikenberry Dining Hall offer Inclusive Solutions micro-restaurants for students with allergies and the Illinois app to see a list of ingredients used in food at all campus dining halls, but these options are few to none.
“My food options were severely limited, and I would eat the same thing most days,” said Rinnell Borges, junior in FAA. “The U of I ingredients lists are clunky and hard to navigate. ISR had Inclusive Solutions, but they were open at limited times, and so I never really had the chance to eat there.”
Students can opt for Inclusive Solutions custom orders, which offers a mobile application to order customizable meals at any dining hall prepared in a separate allergy-friendly area staffed by the Dining Allergy Team.
“This is for celiac disease or any severe allergies, especially for people who can’t handle cross-contamination, which is a big thing considering their self-service dining halls,” Fanning said.
