Last
winter,
Engineering
sophomore
Sam
Greeley
developed a severe case of
Achilles
tendinitis,
an
ankle
injury confining her to crutches
for weeks, adding unexpected
challenges to her daily life.
After
receiving
attention
from the University of Michigan
Hospital,
Greeley
was
not
informed of the accommodations
available to her from Services
for Students with Disabilities. It
was not until two days after her
hospital visit that she learned
about
the
services
available
to
students
with
temporary
conditions.
“I wasn’t given any contact
information for a ride or a cab
(from the hospital),” Greeley said.
“While you are mostly mobile on
crutches, travelling just down
the hallway, especially in the
beginning, was very tiresome.”
In 2015-2016, 108 students
were registered with temporary
disabilities, according to the
SSD
Annual
Report.
When
students injure themselves, they
face an unanticipated number
of challenges when confined to
crutches, wheelchairs and others
walking aids. All services are free
to students.
Nursing sophomore Madison
Farmer broke her ankle during
the winter of 2016 and was put on
crutches. She wasn’t aware of SSD
until four days after her injury.
“I was (using Uber to go) to all
of my classes, but that got very
expensive and so someone told me
about Services for Students with
Disabilities,” Farmer said.
SSD offers a number of services
to
students
with
temporary
disabilities, including Paratransit,
which provides a free ride to
students with disabilities around
campus, and adjustable furniture,
to ease the pain of injuries and
accommodate any student.
SSD Director Stuart Segal
his
office
could
improve
communication about its services.
Often, students with permanent
or temporary disabilities remain
unaware of the services available
to them.
“I have to admit, this is one area
where I think we could do a better
job because this not only concerns
students
with
temporary
disabilities, this concerns students
with all the disabilities,” Segal
said. “It breaks my heart when
I talk to a senior, who has been
here four or five years, finally
somehow makes it here and gets
the accommodations and they
look at me and they say: ‘Jeez I
wish I knew you guys were here
four years ago.’ ”
The number of high-dose opioid
painkiller prescriptions written
to veterans has declined following
the release of a Veterans Health
Administration plan to reduce the
potentially addictive substance,
according to a new study conducted
by the University of Michigan and
Ann Arbor researchers.
Published
in
the
scientific
journal Pain, the research study
found prescriptions written from
high-dose
opioids
decreased
by 16 percent and prescriptions
written for very high-dose opioids
decreased by 24 percent. The
journal also noted the prescribed
combination
of
opioids
and
sedatives, a possibly a deadly one,
decreased by 21 percent over the
course of two years.
The plan, coined the Opioid
Safety Initiative, was introduced
in 2013 in an attempt to reduce
risky
opioid
prescribing
and
other
potentially
lethal
drug
combinations.
The OSI is a computer system
that oversees prescriptions and
provides physicians with additional
knowledge for safer prescribing.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, January 23, 2017
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 13
©2016 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SPORTS...........B SECTION
See VETERAN, Page 3A
Veteran
overdoses
fall due to
program
RESEARCH
Study finds plan reduced
number of high-dose
opioid prescriptions
KENNEDY WERNER
For the Daily
MAX KUANG/Daily
Ann Arbor resident Vick Haviland holds up a sign at the Women’s March in downtown Ann Arbor on Saturday.
Students with temporary disabilities
face unexpected challenges on campus
Transportation issues among the chief concerns of those needing assistance
COLIN BERESFORD
Daily Staff Reporter
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
See DISABILITY, Page 3A
The Ann Arbor City Council
approved a $143,296 contract
with
OHM
Advisors
—
an
architectural
firm
based
in
Livonia — earlier last week to
conduct a complete inspection of
the city’s streetlights, including
prioritization of repairs and cost
estimates. Such an inspection
occurs
at
least
once
every
10 years, according to City
Councilmember Chip Smith (D–
Ward 5).
Smith said the inspection is
regular, but noted it is coming
after city employees noticed
the bottoms of lamp posts were
“rusted out” while looking into
replacing lights in the Kerrytown
neighborhood of Ann Arbor.
Last October, Huron High
School student Qi-Xuan “Justin”
Tang, a 16-year-old, was struck
by a car and killed while crossing
a poorly-lit crosswalk on Fuller
Road while on his way to school.
Since
that
accident,
more
streetlights have been installed
near the high school, and a
school zone has been established,
reducing the speed limit from 40
See LIGHTING, Page 3A
City looks
to ‘U’ for
street light
funding
ANN ARBOR
Ann Arbor City Council
plans to prioritize repairs
and additions in new plan
ANDREW HIYAMA
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan students, Ann Arbor residents travel to
D.C. to attend rallies alongside state lawmakers
CAROLYN GEARIG/Daily
Protestors for the Women’s March walk through Washington D.C on Saturday. The rally began at 10:00 am and attendees began marching at 2:30.
50 local women, 4 men take bus, aim to promote women’s rights, protest election of President Trump at national march
- LSA senior, Florence Rivkin
Ann Arbor was still dark at 7:45
a.m. as staff shielded by umbrellas
from the rain filed into the LSA
Building. Outside, a group of 50
women and four men in damp coats
and signs shielded in plastic bags,
some seeking refuge under the
angles of the Cube, waited for their
bus to Washington D.C. to arrive.
In about four hours, Donald
Trump would be sworn in as 45th
president of the United States and
the 44th president, Barack Obama,
would board a helicopter and fly out
of the capital he had called home for
eight years.
The bus would never make it to
D.C. by then, but it never intended
to. The women weren’t interested
celebrating
the
inauguration,
rather, they wanted to be there for
the aftermath. On Friday, Trump
was inaugurated, and on Saturday,
women from all over the country
would gather for the Women’s
March on Washington.
A week before the inauguration,
The Washington Post reported
that city officials had received 200
permit requests for bus parking for
the inauguration itself, and 1,200
for the Women’s March. Going into
Jan. 20, the president-elect had a
37-percent approval rating.
Trump’s election was met with
mixed emotions across the country
— the president lost the popular
vote but won on the electoral. Many
women were saddened by the loss
of Democratic candidate Hillary
Clinton, and even more so the loss
of the prospect of the first female
president. Regardless of political
party, though, women were weary
of the incoming president — for
his policies threatening issues like
reproductive health, and for his
rhetoric against women (see: the
infamous “grab her by the pussy”
hot mike video).
It was these concerns which
prompted the surge of Facebook
events for women organizing and
demonstrating in response. The
movement eventually consolidated
under the Women’s March on
Washington — though, there were
also smaller marches across the
country — including one in Ann
Arbor.
LSA senior Florence Rivkin,
donning
a
pink
“WOMEN’S
HEALTH MATTERS” shirt, stood
at the front of the bus and explained
why she would march.
“I think it’s going to be a really
lovely message to show thousands
and thousands of people, women,
men, every identity, coming together
and showing everyone that we
actually love each other and the U.S.
doesn’t have to be a hateful place,”
Rivkin said. “I want the Trump
administration to know I am going
to be fighting for my rights and I am
going to be fighting for everybody
else’s rights … this is the beginning
of a movement, not the end.”
Rivkin organized the event with
high-school-friend-turned-college-
roommate
LSA
senior
Lalitha
Ramaswamy. Rivkin was upset
following the election and a family
friend suggested she do something
about it and go to the march.
“I came home and Lalitha was
sitting in our room and I was like,
should we do this?” Rivkin said.
“And she was like, yeah. And she
made the Facebook event and we
ordered the bus the next day.”
EMMA KINERY
Editor in Chief
See MARCH, Page 3A
M ARCH ON
“This is the beginning of a movement, not the end.”