Whereas, the University of California receives federal funding and is therefore mandated to provide accommodations for all students,

Whereas,  “UCI demonstrates its core values of individual growth and development and civility and diversity by recognizing students with disabilities as an important part of its student body,”

Whereas, the mission of the Disability Services Center “is to empower students to reach their potential in every aspect of their lives by moving beyond success to significance through education, service, and support,#”

Whereas, the Disability Services Center was created to uphold these values but has been unable to do so due to restricted funding,

Whereas, the Disabilities Service Center is given a $300,000, as of February 2013 $400,000, cap on how much it can spend on accommodations, forcing the center to predict the needs of a fiscal year,  

Whereas, there has been an influx of students who utilize the DSC, but the cap has remained static up until February 2013,

Whereas, it is impossible to foresee the type and the quantity of accommodations that students will require any given year#,

Whereas, in order to minimize costs, the DSC now constrains salaries, supplies , expenses, and equipment so it can provide students with more for accommodations,

Whereas, the Disabilities Services Center has partially restored its cart service, also know as “Ring Road Rides,” which provide students with rides between different on-campus sites#,

Whereas, the service only operates from 8am-5pm at a strictly hourly basis and limits its ridership only for class or for students, staff, and visitors to campus by appointment,

Whereas, students with mobility disabilities therefore face obstacles in attending extracurricular activities or accessing other campus-based needs,

Whereas, since the service is not funded to the capacity to serve all UCI students who may need it, the DSC cannot openly publicize the “Ring Road Rides,”

Whereas, the Anteater Express is a shuttle services used by  many students and has a yearly ridership of around 2,000,000 students, particularly populations living in the ACC communities and Arroyo Vista,

Whereas, the state of funding for the Anteater Express has made it difficult to provide adequate services for all students despite the well-meaning efforts by the managers of the service,

Whereas, the Anteater Express is unable to maintain the quality of their ramp service meaning that students who require the ramp may have to wait until a bus with a functional ramp can pick them up,

Whereas, the buses are often overcrowded making it difficult for all students, not only those with disabilities, to ride,

Whereas, although UCI Housing has in place a system to request disabilities accommodations, the measures taken are sometimes not comprehensive,

Whereas, there are concerns about the time between establishing awareness about a student’s needs and acquiring accommodations,

Whereas, there are few housing communities that provide accommodations such as accessible restrooms and rooms,

Whereas, UCI Housing should anticipate that 10% of the student population will require some type of accommodation and thus, should set up its facilities accordingly,

Whereas, these issues of housing and transportation greatly affect campus climate for the differently abled community and thus hinder inclusion and accessibility at UCI,  

Let it be resolved, that Legislative Council commit to educate Council, students, and Deans of Schools about the issues raised in this legislation during their next meeting,

Let it further be resolved, that ASUCI as a whole commit to making offices and buildings more accommodating spaces for differently abled students (ex. by clearing walkways in the ASUCI building) and providing programs (i.e. like sign language interpretation) to encourage participation by differently abled students as well as increasing awareness about the invisibility of many disabilities and actively seeking other suggestions from the Disabilities Service Center,

Let it further be resolved, that ASUCI create avenues for input for differently abled students that are available online and actively publicized, such as urging UCI Student Housing to reform their website for this feature,

Let it finally be resolved, that ASUCI advocate for the issues of differently abled students and embraces them as part of the fabric of UCI as a campus and a community.