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Campus Accessibility
Commitment to Making Programs Accessible and Creating an Increasingly Physically Accessible Campus
The Northwestern University campuses provide a variety of challenges to creating a physically accessible environment for students with disabilities. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, however; programmatic access is much more readily attainable. Programmatic access ensures that all classes, programs, and activities will be held in accessible locations. This may mean that classes, programs, or activities need to be moved from their originally scheduled location.
Students share questions with SSD staff regarding campus accessibility at the Disability Awareness Days Ice Cream Social.
However, when moving a class, program, or activity would fundamentally change the learning environment, structural alterations may be made to the existing room or facility. Any new construction or major building renovation will meet all federal and state statutes for accessibility.
Making programs accessible to all students involves a cooperative effort between students, staff, and faculty. Additional information on making classrooms, labs, and field trips accessible, as well as notes regarding service animals is available on our pages for faculty. Students with disabilities are the University's best resource for creating an accessible campus. We should welcome this diversity to campus and learn from their experiences.
Elevators, Accessible Entrances, and Accessibility Maps on the Evanston & Chicago Campuses
The following three links will likely assist in navigating both campuses:
- Text descriptions of elevators and accessible entrances for the Evanston campus
- Text descriptions of elevators and accessible entrances for the Chicago campus
- Campus accessibility maps
SSD's Chicago campus office is located in Room 727 of Abbott Hall.
Parking and Transportation
Any student who wishes to use parking designated for individuals with disabilities on the Northwestern University campuses must have a state handicap parking permit. Consistent with the policy of Northwestern University Parking Operations, students with handicapped license plates or placards must purchase a main-campus parking permit. Temporary accessible parking and limited campus transportation on the Evanston campus can be obtained with the permission of the Director of the Northwestern University Health Services.
Northwestern University Health Service
633 Emerson
Evanston, IL 60208
(847) 491-2123
