By Michael Dominguez
A learning institution should not take away disabled students’ education, and should be given the tools to succeed next to non-disabled students.
Taking away a program or tool that helps him or her get to class is not the answer.
This was the case with student Charles Guerra.
Guerrera is suing West Los Angeles College and the Los Angeles Community College District for removing a campus shuttle system he relied on.
An article by KPCC radio states that Guerra is a veteran and suffered a spinal injury.
He lost the use of his left leg because of a severed nerve and needed an operation to keep from being paralyzed.
There are many colleges that have students with physical or learning disabilities.
Schools offer services to help students become successful in the classroom by offering longer time to test and or to take notes.
But transportation for students with physical disabilities should be an option when they apply for their college’s student disabilities program.
An option given to students with physical problems is allowing them to leave class a few minutes earlier in order to be on time to their next class.
The problem with that is, if the student chooses to leave the class early, he or she can miss important information from the professor, like something from a lesson plan or a test date.
Instead, there should be a shuttle that takes students to their next class as soon as their class ends.
There should be a way for those with a physical disability to contact someone to notify them that their class just ended and are ready to go to the next class.
Schools should give all students the power and tools necessary to pass their classes and earn their degrees.
That’s why students like Guerra and others with physical issues should get transportation privileges.
This will allow them to make it to class on time and not worry about missing something important that may help on the next test or quiz, just because they have to leave class to beat student traffic.
On the other hand, the average, non-disabled student can run and cut in front of others and get to class in five minutes or less.
Ultimately, LACCD and West LA should do the right thing.
And the right thing is to provide students like Guerra a shuttle without problems so they can enjoy school and have one less thing to stress about.