Fieldston Upper School Juniors Arshie-Amelie Chaudry and Chantel Mager this past semester worked under the mentorship of Upper School Architecture teacher Marc Ganzglass to build and install an ADA approved wheelchair accessibility ramp for the Fieldston campus. Chaudry and Mager’s project statement says “Our school mission statement is ‘at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, we are committed to diversity — including diversity of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, socioeconomic status, disability status, religion, and culture.’ However, our lack of elevators and ramps show that we are not truly accessible for those with physical disabilities.”
They explain in their project statement that The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based off of disability. “However, many of the city’s school buildings – such as Fieldston – were built before the ADA became law,” Chaudry and Mager said. “A 2018 study found that more than 80% of city schools are inaccessible to kids with disabilities.”
This project is hopefully one of many initiatives in the future from students that advocates to make Fieldston’s notoriously inaccessible campus more responsive to the needs of people with disabilities in the future. Chaudry and Mager have catalyzed what is historic progress at Fieldston in the making.
