Desiree Miller cannot get around campus at the University of Alabama as easily as most students. She's in a wheelchair, and said sometimes going to class can be difficult - especially when it's an "out of service" day.

"It was a bit shaky first semester," said Miller, a sophomore with an undecided major. "A lot of the elevators weren't working at the beginning of the year."

Though parts of some buildings on campus do not meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, students who use wheelchairs say that, for the most part, they can get around the University campus and navigate their class buildings with relative ease.

"A good thing about being at the University is, if you're registered with disability services, they will move your classes in a classroom so you can be downstairs," said Blake Loftin, a freshman majoring in exercise and sports sciences.

In the fall, the University of Alabama hired a corporation to survey its classrooms to determine which were ADA accessible and which ones were not. The survey was conducted so the office of disability services can have a list of accessible classrooms, and thus ensure that students with registered disabilities can be placed in classrooms that are accessible.

Kenneth Moncayo, assistant vice president of facilities, said information returned from the report, which the University received last week, will also help to determine what areas of the campus need to be improved for increased accessibility. He did not elaborate on which buildings were found to have the most inaccessible classrooms.

Moncayo said UA facilities is evaluating sidewalks across campus to ensure they meet ADA standards and installing lower water fountains for wheelchair accessibility. Also, Moncayo said a committee was recently created to prioritize how the University should spend money to make more accessible to disabled students. "We have limited funds and unlimited requirements on the campus," Moncayo said.

Loftin decided to attend the University because it started a men's wheelchair basketball team. When he arrived here, he quickly noticed that the campus was, overall, very accessible for people who use wheelchairs, especially since most of the University is on very level ground, Loftin said.

Loftin said most of the buildings where he has classes are wheelchair accessible, though sometimes choosing the right elevators to find his classes and figuring out the best ways in and out of some buildings can be a hassle.

"A lot of times you won't be able to go to the main entrance of the building, and you'll have to go a little bit out of your way to try to find a way in," Loftin said. "But you learn to adapt. Eventually, you can go into a building and figure out where an elevator is, just by experience."

It is when the elevators don't work that there is trouble. One elevator at Tutwiler Hall was broken for a few weeks at the beginning of the fall semester, so Miller said she had to find another way to get to the math lab to study on the building's second floor. For a while, she had to go to the back of the building and use the freight elevator to get to the second floor.

It is when the elevators don't work that there is trouble. One elevator at Tutwiler Hall was broken for a few weeks at the beginning of the fall semester, so Miller said she had to find another way to get to the math lab to study on the building's second floor. For a while, she had to go to the back of the building and use the freight elevator to get to the second floor.

When the elevators at Gorgas Library were down, she said she found herself stuck on the second floor, where she had a class. Miller, who walks sometimes but mostly uses a wheelchair, made a concerted effort in getting back down to the first floor.

"I carried my chair down the stairs," Miller said. "I think I confused a lot of people." Miller said this year, the University has been a lot more responsive with fixing problems when students call the Office of Disability Services with accessibility complaints, like broken elevators.

"Last year I didn't know who to contact if an elevator was broken," she said. "I just kind of waited it out." Miller said this year she noticed that new signs had been placed around campus to notify students or staff of alternative accessible routes in buildings, should an elevator be broken. Those signs helped her greatly.

The reality of having a wheelchair is that when an accessibility problem arises in some cases, going to class becomes an unshakeable possibility. Miller said she had to miss a philosophy class in Gordon Palmer Hall last year when an elevator was broken.

Nicole Green, a lab technician at UA Disability Services said buildings are much less accessible and harder to navigate than others. "By far, Farrah, Gordon Palmer and Houser are the hardest to deal with," Green said. "And Reese Phifer is really hard to navigate."

Farrah Hall, home of the department of criminal justice and the cartographic laboratory, is not wheelchair accessible floor. Also, the bathrooms in Farrah have narrow doorways and stalls, so it is not in compliance with standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Green said.

Gordon Palmer Hall is an exceptionally confusing building to navigate in a wheelchair, Green said, because its elevators only go to certain parts of the building. Some students enter using the ramp on the backside of the building and then take an elevator.

Also, Gordon Palmer has inaccessible restrooms, but those are being renovated to meet ADA standards.Houser Hall, which houses the computer science and electrical and computer engineering departments, is not very handicap accessible because of older elevator that has no automatic door and has to be opened with a handle, Green said.

As for the mazelike communications building, Green said, "Once you know where to go in Reese Phifer, it's accessible. "But it's finding where to go that's the hard part."