Victory Beyond the Scoreboard: Accessible Access at NC State

One of my most proud moments of advocacy occurred while a senior at NC State University, where I fought to change the accessible student ticketing policies and parking arrangements for football and basketball.

Before getting involved, if a student required an accessible seat, they would have to enter the ticket lottery like any other student. However, once a ticket was secured, they would have to show up as soon as the ticket office opened hours before the event on game day to swap their standard ticket for an accessible seat. This was not only inconvenient but presented an extra step not required of the general student base.

The accessible seat swap was also only provided if there was no existing need from the general public. This method was only successful about half the time and with both basketball and football, the accessible seating assigned to students was segregated from the traditional student section which was courtside for basketball and in the lower bowl of the stadium for football.

Accessible parking for football was also placed nowhere near the stadium due to athletic program booster incentivized parking and only available in satellite parking lots across a busy road from the stadium property. When utilizing the shuttle and in large part due to lot location and traffic patterns, it would often take an hour just to get from accessible parking to the stadium.

Frustrated with the lack of access and opportunity to effectively participate in the student athletic event experience, I met with the athletic department several times without progress and was outright shut down several times. I ultimately engaged with an attorney to challenge the athletic department concerning its prioritization of wealthy donors over its responsibility to the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a lifelong NC State sports fan, it truly pained me to go against the program, but change was necessary.

After several additional meetings, NC State ultimately changed their policies to no longer require day of event accessible seating ticket swaps for both football and basketball, they relocated the football stadium accessible parking lot while reconfiguring the shuttle route (reducing the trip to the stadium from one hour to five minutes), and created an accessible student seating area courtside for basketball, eliminating segregated seating for students with disabilities.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to see the results of that advocacy in action. The first such situation occurred in November of 2013 when 20th ranked NC State beat #1 ranked Duke in basketball in Raleigh. Though having long since graduated and not at the game in-person this time around, I was of course watching on tv at home. Following the final buzzer, as the students began to rush the court in celebration, it warmed my heart to see that the mob of excitement included students in wheelchairs…and I cried watching it happen.

I have loved each and every one of the many days of advocacy I have had the opportunity to experience on Capitol Hill. I have even had the honor of meeting two Presidents of the United States. However, what I was able to accomplish at NC State will always be the most rewarding, knowing that I was able to help create access and opportunities that will continue to bring joy to students, alumni, and fans for years to come.