The other area in which access has been an issue is the Houses. For students who use wheelchairs, there are currently a few accessible rooms in Quincy House; Currier House could easily be made accessible, yet the transition plan provided for five accessible houses by 1981. At the moment, there is a shortage of rooms for these students because all the Quincy House rooms are full and none of them allow a student who lives with an attendant to have roommates, an essential part of student life here.

The administration's response to this problem is that making additional space available in the River Houses would be too expensive for the University and that the problem should be resolved by accommodating Currier. We feel that this solution has several problems. First of all, it concentrates all students in wheelchairs in two Houses which would have negative social effects as well as violating 504's provision for equal choice in housing. Second, because the Quad is separated from most of the other Houses and is off the beaten track, making Currier the accessible House would exacerbate problems of isolation--already an issue for students with disabilities living in a largely inaccessible world.

We feel that the solution to the obvious problem of the housing shortage should be one which contributes to solving problems for students with disabilities on campus, not simply the cheapest or easiest answer. Students with other disabilities generally rely on their own resources to make their living space accessible, such as installing high-powered lamps or an amplified phone.

The other category of barriers concern attitudes. Attitudes which contribute to excluding students from the community cover a wide range, and vary according to the individual and his or her disability. A common one is the conception of students with disabilities as being "afflicted." People often view anyone with a visible disability--such as cerebral palsy or a mobility disability--as a pitiful and diminutive Tiny Tim figure. These are the people who bless you on the street, who ask your friends questions directed at you ("And what would she like to order?") or have praise for your "wonderful courage and achievements."

All that attitudes such as these accomplish is to group people with disabilities together in a composite image called "the disabled," assigning them a secondary role outside society. Behind their praise for "courage" and "achievements" is the message that when we do break into mainstream society we are only there because of some superior personal qualities, not because that is our rightful place as human beings. Attitudinal barriers often stem from discomfort and fear, and create a barrier for which there is no ready solution. Underneath them is a wish to avoid contact with people with disabilities, perhaps out of fear of confronting one's own mortality, as some people posit, of "there but for fortune go I." Attitudinal barriers can only be eliminated by years of education, part of which ideally should happen at Harvard.

While Harvard's environment does prevent severe obstacles for students with disabilities towards integrating into and participating in the community, it is better than many schools whose attitude is that students with disabilities should go somewhere else.

But it is important to remember that most of the gains made at Harvard are the direct result of the 504 regulations. For the past year, the Reagan Administration, through the Office of Management and Budget, has been "reinterpreting" the regulations, weakening them to the point at which they have almost no use. (This is part of a process which will include reinterpreting Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972). If the new regulations are adopted, almost all of the progress made in the past few years will be lost. The 504 regulations constitute the only assurance for people with disabilities that their civil rights will be protected by law. It is urgent that you write President Reagan, your senator, and representative, and register your opposition.

Rani Kronick '84 is the president of Advocating a Better Learning Environment, an organization for disabled students.