Owl Post

The Accessibility Services (AS) department at Temple University, Japan Campus is a vital cornerstone of the school’s student services, promising that “students with particular educational needs can access the full university experience.” However, TUJ’s growth has outpaced its commitment to accessibility, leading to a slew of different issues: wheelchair-inaccessible sections of campus, a lack of communication with AS’s single staff member, difficulties obtaining and using accommodations, and more.

As of the fall 2025 semester, TUJ has 3,319 undergraduate students, an exponential increase from the school’s humble origins in 1982. The most common critique of the AS department is that its singular staff member, AS Coordinator Michelle Bridges, could not possibly support a student base of this size effectively: “I think that it needs to be a team of at least four or five people,” unnamed student A said. “Because our campus is getting bigger, and we’re getting a lot more students. A campus this size in America has five people working on this, at least.”

For the entire spring 2026 semester, AS has been online-only, and several students have expressed concern that the lack of availability makes it difficult for students to get the support they need. “It’s totally inappropriate,” unnamed student A said. “If someone has an emergency, no one is there to help you. It’s just unacceptable, and I can’t even fathom how they thought that was OK.”

Another unnamed student expressed similar discontent over the lack of in-person disability support, stating that Bridges came to campus less and less frequently over the fall 2025 semester before going online-only towards the end. They attempted to obtain accommodations from AS during finals week, but did not receive a response until two days after the semester ended.

“The opportunity to help has passed,” student B said. “The response I got was pretty tone deaf. At best, it was just ignorant of my situation. At worst, it was intentionally negligent.”

Dr. Leslie Tirapelle, vice president of Digital Education and Learning Resources and overseer of AS, clarified TUJ’s stance on the issue, stating that it was an atypical period for AS: “Only in the last two months, Michelle has had to take leave and only be remote. So that is unusual; we’ve always had someone here on campus.” She also stated that TUJ is currently looking for two additional accessibility coordinators to assist Bridges in her department. However, Dr. Tirapelle did not specify when she expects these positions to be filled, nor when AS’s in-person office will reopen.

Another issue students have cited is the Owl Center, an additional building on the Tokyo campus, added in fall 2024. Despite being advertised as “state of the art,” the building is completely wheelchair inaccessible, preventing students from accessing classrooms and facilities such as the school gym. Dr. Tirapelle stated that it was impossible to adjust the building: “We do not own the Owl Center, we rent the Owl Center,” she said. “Therefore, we are not able to retrofit that building. The building meets building standards for Japan.” It should be noted that TUJ was able to add a variety of other adjustments, including signage, paint jobs, and iconography, though the specific stipulations of the school’s contract with the building owners are not publicly available.

Student A felt that the school’s claims of accessibility did not accurately reflect the situation on campus, particularly in the Owl Center. “I don’t like it when people say that they’re accessible when I can’t get into a building,” they said. “I think that’s inappropriate.”

Dr. Tirapelle admitted that the space was not sufficiently accessible and that the lack of local real estate led the school to acquire the property despite concerns. “When you have an opportunity for a large space, you will take advantage of that opportunity, which did provide additional resources to our students,” Tirapelle said. “And granted, we did know from the outset that, because there are not that many opportunities around us to actually obtain space, that this would be one of the challenges we would have to face.”

She also affirmed that TUJ complies with standard accessibility practices in the United States and Japan, which ensure that if a student’s class is inaccessible to them, the school is required to find a space that works for them. “It is not [about] whether we will or will not move the class,” Tirapelle said. “We will move the class. That is just it. We have to make sure that students have access to education.”

However, accessibility issues are not limited to the student body; they also affect staff members. Professor Michael Williams, who uses a wheelchair and has been teaching at the school since TUJ’s inception in 1982, stated that although the school will provide accommodations if professors “demand” them, AS does not offer any accommodations for staff, as staff accommodations are handled by TUJ’s HR department. However, the HR department is completely wheelchair inaccessible.

“The HR building right across from the Owl Center… 15, 16 stairs going up there,” said Professor Williams. “And that’s human resources. That’s the HR department. The one that needs to be the most accessible for everyone. So in general, I think it’s pretty dismal.”

Professor Williams also stated that the school often provides necessary accommodations eventually, but they are implemented far too slowly. For example, at TUJ’s previous Minami-Azabu location, it took them “five or six years” to install a wheelchair access ramp. He attributed this to a broader issue, not just at TUJ, in which accessibility is often treated as an afterthought.

Yu Hamada, student leader of the Disability Club and primary coordinator in the student sector of TUJ’s Leading in Equity, Acceptance, and Diversity (LEAD) program, has been working with faculty and students to bring disability awareness into the spotlight at TUJ. Hamada planned and coordinated the “Engage in Disability” LEAD x Disability Club event in Fall 2025, which aimed to spread awareness of various mental and physical disabilities, including ADHD, autism, blindness, and chronic pain. Hamada asked, “LEAD is all about inclusivity, right? You cannot talk about humanity without disabilities. You just can’t. Disabilities are everywhere.”

Hamada felt that LEAD was gaining influence, but struggled with a small budget and a lack of voice. Similar to AS, a lack of manpower and time constraints limit the scope of their activities. However, they stated that LEAD had great potential and that students were the most interested in participating in and helping with these events.

“Students wanted to do them,” Hamada said. “Students worked on them. Students sometimes paid for them. And I feel that’s maybe not understood by the people who are outside of LEAD and have decision-making authority for the institution. And I don’t think that’s their fault. It’s that communication at TUJ is very difficult.”

A lack of communication was noted by students, staff, and Bridges herself, who stated that “one of the biggest things that I have been trying to get out there is just our name, to be able to tell students, ‘Hey, accessibility services exist.’”

“We don’t know what we don’t know,” agreed Dr. Tirapelle, who recognized a lack of communication between the AS department and the student base at large. Hamada expressed concern that, especially in a closed environment like TUJ, even a small number of bad experiences with AS can have a ripple effect, contributing to distrust of AS among the student body.

“I’ve seen so many students leave because they don’t get the support they need…” Hamada said. I think AS, LEAD, and all of these smaller organizations are factors, determinants. Part of the determinants for a student’s decision-making to stay in TUJ.”

Hamada felt that the best way to help alleviate miscommunication between faculty and students, as well as improve AS itself, is to provide more opportunities for students to give feedback directly to the department. Both Bridges and Tirapelle corroborated this statement, and Tirapelle hoped that an increase in manpower in the AS department would allow them to “build in more resources and methods by which we are getting that feedback, and also in a way that is anonymous so that students feel safe to provide their feedback.” Tirapelle also said she wanted more/closer collaboration between the Disability Club and AS, suggesting the two groups could meet once a semester to discuss issues regarding disability awareness and accessibility at the school.

Hamada affirmed that student complaints regarding AS are valid while urging students to have empathy for the staff involved in accessibility services. They posit that unity, along with accountability, is the path forward to improving accessibility and acceptance for students at TUJ, making the school a better place for all who enter it.

“Faculty are not your enemies,” Hamada said. “Sometimes it feels like they are, but we’re all bloody stressed, okay? When we’re stressed, sometimes we have to double down, going ‘they’re human, I’m human, maybe that interaction was because of stress.’ Let’s broaden our perspective and try a different direction.