Pat Sheely, a BCC alum and UCP board member, and disability rights activist Merle Ferber speak at the opening about Madeline Snide, a another BCC alum who used a wheelchair and worked to inspire change on campus. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Whether you are on foot, using a mobility aid, or pushing a baby stroller, the Berkshire Community College quad is now navigable.

On Friday, the college community cut the ribbon on its new, accessible quad. It honors Madeline Snide, a 1978 graduate and the first paraplegic to enroll at the BCC who is credited for inspiring change on campus.

"Madeline did not live long enough to see all her hard work come to fruition but I know she feels it," said Merle Ferber, a disability rights activist who worked along Snide.

Pat Sheely, a BCC alum and board member of United Cerebral Palsy, explained that she was "miserable" to be around the first two years she had her disability.  

"Madeline is one of three people who taught me that there is life after a disability," she said, adding that Snide's achievements were overwhelming.

The overhaul included removing cracked concrete, leveling steep areas, and adding railings and other ADA elements. The quad cost about $4 million and was part of a $10 million critical infrastructure improvement project funded by the Baker-Polito administration.

President Ellen Kennedy pointed to the campus' brutalist architecture, which was popular in the early 1970s when it was built. While the stylistic choice was loved by some and disliked by others, its difficulty for those using a wheelchair or mobility aid was undisputed.

"It was at a time when — and this is no aspersion to anyone who was working in architecture or anyone who was doing anything in life at that time — when ableism was running rampant," she explained.