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Ball State University was recently named one of the top 75 colleges for programs offered to students with disabilities. 

The Web site disabilityfriendlycolleges.com recognized the school for going above and beyond the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The site acknowledged Ball State for its accessible shuttle services, adaptive physical education program, disability-friendly housing and classrooms, academic mentorship and wheelchair repair services.

The buildings on campus are equipped with handicap button access. Also, students in wheelchairs are given electronic prox cards, which allow them to get their cards within the range of the reader, electronically opening the doors.

The services Ball State offers to its disabled students sets it apart from other Indiana universities.

Ball State freshman Dustin Gilmer was interested in Indiana University, but changed his mind because Ball State offered more to students with disabilities.

"The director of disabled students here said that this campus has more students with disabilities than all the colleges here in Indiana combined," Gilmer said. "That kind of eased my comforts about coming here and living on my own and doing my own thing."

Gilmer thought that Ball State was much more accessible, and that the construction of new buildings helped with that.

Director of Disabled Student Development Larry Markle agreed that new buildings helped with the ease of accessibility, but even the older buildings have been renovated to allow disability access.

"We don't have to switch classrooms because somebody in a wheelchair signed up for a class in a certain location," Markle said.

Markle credited the facilities people at the university for their abilities to make changes when needed and get things accomplished when there is a problem. 

"They see disability as a priority," Markle said.

Ball State's ability to help students with disability has given the college notoriety throughout the state, and with this award, maybe now the word will spread nationally.