My Fight To Pee with Dignity Continues: UM Lawsuit Story

What should’ve been a dream college experience at the University of Miami turned into a battleground. In Part Two of this powerful story, Nathasha Alvarez exposes the people who stood by her side—and those who turned a blind eye. Being a disabled student came with challenges she never should’ve had to face. This episode peels back the layers of injustice, courage, and what it really took to fight back.

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:02):
Welcome to another episode of audaciously speaking
with me, Natasha Alvarez. Thankyou so much for joining me, as I
continue to tell you the storyabout the elevator. I also want
to thank the people who havegiven me encouragement and

(00:22):
positive feedback from the lastepisode. Remember, this is for
you. If you can find somethingin here to help you get through
a challenge, or conquer,obstacle, or even achieved a
goal, then it was worth it. I'mmaking this for you, Bella, and

(00:46):
Luke. For that one day, youknow, that I went through some
things, and I got through it.
And this is how I did. Thisepisode is going to continue
with the elevator. In the lastepisode, I told you that
everything started from me,going to the bathroom, or me

(01:12):
wanting to go to the bathroom,in a campus with no bathroom for
somebody in a wheelchair, only astall with no door. Listen to
the last episode, so that youcan find out about that, we find
out that I got some pretty goodhelp from my professor Adrian

(01:35):
paver. And they He told me to goto the plant operations
building, not the plantation,which is what I said in the last
episode. And I'm very sorryabout that. And I found out that
entire campus have theblueprints, you have to
remember, I am 18 years old. AndI have no idea about this. As

(01:58):
I'm looking at the blueprint,I'm realizing that there were
ways to make the entire campusbetter for wheelchair users. The
more I pushed on campus, themore my classes changed, the
more I realized that this wasbecoming a bigger challenge than

(02:20):
what I had originally thoughtwould happen. Now I have two
choices. I can even do what manypeople told me to do. And they
said go to another school. Whydid you choose this school? No
one told you to pick the school.
Yes, I received comments likethat from other students. And I
was really upset about that.

(02:44):
Because why are you picking onme? I wouldn't do everything
that you're doing. I want to goto activities. I want to go to
sports games. I want to go toclasses. I want to pee just like
you. And why can't I have abathroom? Just like you?
Why can't I go to the diningroom just like you. But yet, the

(03:09):
University of Miami wants me topay the same tuition, just like
you. Isn't that something? Youguys want me to pay the same,
but you're not willing to giveme the same. That is something
that always stayed in the backof my mind, always. So now we're
in 1989 and 1990. And I bumpinto the president of the

(03:38):
student body. His name is Erwin.
Right? He called the head and hesays that he's going to work
with me on making campus abetter place. I said, Okay, I
told him about the buildingwhere a person has to use the
telephone, because they can'tget to the second floor show. If
you want to speak to a teacheron that floor, you have to use

(04:01):
the telephone. So they will comedown to you. Then there are the
three major ramps that are sosteep, that in order for me to
go up the ramps, I have to pushfaster in order to get some
traction to get back up. Pointround is easy. Going back up was
scary. So the more I opened myeyes to the things that I was

(04:25):
struggling with, the more Irealized we need to change. Not
only did my article for theUniversity of Miami hurricane,
open people's eyes, but it alsohelped me get some more allies.
And after a while, some peoplewere coming around and they were

(04:46):
saying that I need to write morearticles and I need to contract
the gene and I need to do thisand I need to do that. Everybody
has an opinion. But nobody hasany actions that they're willing
to take with me. One of themajor problems that I had was
the bookstore. When you go tothe bookstore in the Student

(05:09):
Union, you go in on the firstfloor, everybody does you meet
everyone. And once you goinside, if you want to go to the
second floor, you have to go upthe steps. No elevator, or show,
I was told, I went ahead, and Itold them, I would have wanted
to get my books, just likeeveryone else. And they told me

(05:31):
to follow them. So I did. So Ifollow him behind some closed
doors that lead to a bookstorage room. And there was a
freight elevator, a serviceelevator, which is a solid door
with a window on the top. Andyou open that door, and you pull

(05:54):
on it. And then you have anaccordion door. Once you enter
the elevator, you close thesolid door, and then you close
the accordion door. This is whatI used my entire time on campus.
It was the only thing that wasavailable to available to me, or

(06:16):
so I thought. One day though,that elevator wasn't working,
and I had to get to the secondfloor. One of the employees told
me to follow him. So I did. Andwe use the elevator in the
breezeway to go up to the secondfloor where there was a door
that he unlocked. And it pleasedto meet right there in the

(06:42):
bookstore.
I told him,why don't I use this? And he
said, because no one's going tohear you. I go, why don't you
place above your ringersomething? because no one's
going to hear you. This is mucheasier for us to remember that
people. So I said, Okay, well, Itold Irwin, who is the president

(07:08):
of the student body that Iwanted to do a tour. And I
wanted to put all of the leadersin a wheelchair, a manual one,
and they would have to go allover the campus, so they can see
what I have to deal with on aregular basis. Long story short,
it happened. And Dr. flipsie wasable to get some manual

(07:33):
wheelchairs, but they were thereally ugly kind, the ones that
they have in the hospital, whichis perfect, because they're very
difficult to handle. And I thinkthat's exactly what these
gentlemen needed. One of thegentlemen was Dr. William
Butler. Oh, very nice, man.

(07:54):
Very, very nice. And he agreedto go and sit in the wheelchair.
Irwin also used a wheelchair, anarchitect, I think used one and
a plant operation person did. Sothere were several of us. There
was even an article written onit at the University of Miami

(08:14):
hurricane. So if you can lookup, look for it in the archives,
you could find it there. Anyway,we're about to start the tour.
When Dr. Butler says he has touse the bathroom. Even as I tell
this story, I laugh, becausedidn't it all start with a
bathroom? And I went ahead and Isaid, Okay, so he's about to get

(08:39):
up. And I said, No, no, no, youcan't get up. The tour has
started. And one of hisassistants said, looked at me
and said, Natasha, he has usedthe bathroom and I go show did I
show it if you want me to usethat bathroom? He can use it
too. Now, everyone thought I hadstepped over the line. They're

(09:03):
like, Whoa, you cannot talk tothe team this way. In my mind, I
do see a title. In my mind. AllI thought was, you're on tour,
you're agreed to go on thistour. And I want to pee just
like you. So what's the problem?
Well, Dr. Butler, it's so nice.

(09:24):
And he said, She's right. Iagree to this. And he goes into
the men's bathroom. And he comesback out. And he says I can't, I
can't get in there. So I laughand I go That's okay. You can go
into the girls bathroom. But Iwill tell you now that there's
not going to be any privacy. Butdon't worry, we'll stand outside

(09:46):
and we'll guard the door. And sohe did. We came back out and he
said, Okay, I'm ready. And Irealized the problem but the
bathroom that needs to getfixed. I said fantastic. But
then one of the Men was thirstyand wanted to use the water
thumb. Of course, I don't usethat, because they're never, for

(10:09):
me, they're never my height. Andif they are my height, they're
so long that they touch thebottom of the, of the floor that
you can put the wheelchairunder. So the water fountains
are useless for me. And I watchas he tries and fumbles, and
water spills all over his shirt.
It was a lot of fun to watch.
And I said, Okay, are we readyfor the tour? And they're like,

(10:32):
yes. So we go all over campus,one gentleman falls out of the
wheelchair, because the ramp isso steep, that he falls boom,
back. It was hilarious. But ofcourse, I was like, Oh, my gosh,
are you okay? And I'm thinking,of course, he's okay. He's not

(10:52):
really disabled patients in awheelchair for a little bit,
he's gonna be fine. And by theend of the tour, they realize
this is hard. Their hands weredirty, they were tired. They
couldn't handle the doors. Theyweren't able to maneuver that
heavy George and theirwheelchairs. And we ended up at

(11:12):
the bookstore. And I said, Let'sgo, let's go get some books.
Well, by now they're reallytired. And we went all the way
up to with a bookstore,the fried, elevated located, but
we didn't use it. Because theyrealize how complicated this
was. And they asked me, Is thiswhat you do all the time? And I

(11:33):
said, Yes. Every single time, Ihave to get books. I go up
there. And they said, Well, whydon't you just ask one of them
to bring the books down for you?
And I said, Why? Is that whatyou do for everyone else? Why
can't I go and get my booksdressed like everyone else? And

(11:54):
they all agreed? They said, Yes,you're right. I said, Okay, I
was really excited. I thought,Oh, my gosh, I opened their
eyes, there's going to bechanged on campus. As a matter
of fact, everything startedlooking better. Even the
University of Miami hurricane,wrote an editorial supporting my

(12:15):
tour and shaming president footfor not going on the tour. And
they made a little cartoon thatsaid that he's better off that
he chose to be in his airconditioned office on his
leather office chair that haswheels. It was something like

(12:36):
that, which is really good. Andyou can see that in the
archives. I was excited. I'mlike, Yes, I'm making change, I
can't believe this. things aregonna happen. I would feel so
happy. And I told them, we needto do this before somebody gets
hurt. Well, it looked likeeverything was going really

(12:57):
well. So Irwin says to me,Natasha, I have some news for
you. And I go create, what isit? And he says to me, they're
going to make changes on campus.
And he gives me some figurelike, I don't know how much
money it was people, okay, wehave X amount of money. And
Student Union, the student bodyis going to put X amount of

(13:20):
money, and we're going to makechanges. And I go, What do you
mean, X amount of money? Sowe're only limited to the amount
of funds that we have? And hesays to me, yes. And I go, Why?
And he said, because they don'thave that much in their budget.
And I remember so clearly, thatI said to him, Are you kidding?

(13:46):
Do you have any idea? Thetuition that people pay for the
school? The University of Miamiis one of the most expensive
schools in Florida, if not theUnited States. And you're going
to tell me, they don't havemoney. Have you seen the cars

(14:08):
that the football players drive?
Have you seen their jewelry?
Have you seen the basketballplayers? Are you kidding me? And
he said, Patrick, honestly, thisis I think they're doing really
well. And an earl is verydiplomatic and trying to calm me
down and tell me that, you know,this is good. And I'm like, No,

(14:31):
it's not. And I have to tell herwhen, obviously you don't know
about section 504 of theRehabilitation Act. And now we
have the Americans withDisability Act. They have money,
they can do it. So Erwin saidthis is what he told me. So
let's make a list of what needsto be done. I said, that's fine.

(14:53):
We'll do that. But I'm lettingyou know that if these changes
are not made all over campus,someone's gonna get hurt. And
then they're gonna regret it. Ithink this is the part that I
would consider foreshadowing.
Because in my senior year, on mybirthday, which is January 9, I

(15:18):
went to the bookstore that wason the second floor, coming down
the free elevator with myfriend, David Williams. And we
were going down there when Ilook. And I can see, on the
solid door, there's a window onthe top. And I see a woman with

(15:41):
a stroller, a baby stroller, andthere's a baby in there. So she
pulled the solid door. And thenshe opens up the accordion door.
Halfway. Once she sees me, shesteps back. But she holds
falador. My friend who's withme, David Williams, he opens the

(16:07):
rest of the accordion door and Ipush out. And I fall there has
to be at least a 12 inch drop.
Later on the elevator companyclaims that's not true. So I
guess we're just going topretend that a bunch of ghosts
lifted my wheelchair up anddropped me on the ground.

(16:33):
Because the next thing you know,I hit the cement. The first
thing I do is trip my teeth. Ialways check my teeth. First,
whenever I fall, I don't knowwhy. I guess I have the spirit
all my teeth are gonna come out.
And the paramedics come and theyhelp me back onto the

(16:56):
wheelchair.
Now it turns out, I have brokenmy breastbone. I have broken my
ribs, my hip, my pelvis. Andsomething happens to my left
lung. It's not collapsed. Butit's something it's injury. It's

(17:17):
no longer as healthy as it usedto be. When I go to the hospital
for all of that, I convincedmyself I'm just going to get
back up and go to school. Not abig deal. My birthday, I've got
to go. My mind was so convincedthat nothing was going to, you

(17:38):
know, stop me from my normalplans. And I spent the rest of
that week in and out of painmedication. I see Dr. Butler, I
fall asleep. I see my own Dean,Dr. Rita Deutsch. And I go back
to sleep. People are coming inpeople are coming out. And Dr.

(18:03):
Rita George says to me, we'regoing to help you we're going to
get you some classes while youheal. And I told her, What do
you mean? I'm going back toschool? She looks at me and she
says no, Honey, you're not. Andthen my mom explained that I

(18:24):
have to be in bed for about sixto eight weeks in order to
completely heal. And it was ifmy life crumbled. I was a woman
with plans. I was a woman withgoals. I had to do this, because

(18:45):
that was the next step. The goalwas go to college, get a degree,
go to law school, be a lawyerconquer the world. Those were my
plans. That's how I was raised.
That's what I was told. That iswho I was. And now I fell out of
an elevator in my entire life isupside down.

(19:11):
And I cry because my life isupside down. I go home and I'm
stuck there for six to eightweeks. All this could have been
avoided if the University ofMiami

(19:32):
had been true to Section 504 ofthe Rehabilitation Act and not
use money as an excuse to not bein compliance. And that's the
truth. It has nothing to do withthe ADA. Although it was 1992
and they had two years. Theystill had way more time because

(19:56):
of Section 504 of theRehabilitation Act. It was a
very, very sad time in my life.
It was very unhappy. And I crieda lot at night. Because
everything was banished. I willtell you, as I conclude this
episode, that people enter yourlife. And sometimes they are

(20:23):
background characters, andsometimes their main characters.
And Dr. Rita George became amajor character. Because she
found a way to give me twoclasses that I can take while
home. And she was so sweet. Shesaid, Natasha, I know that you

(20:47):
are going to go crazy at homedoing nothing. So I'm going to
give you two classes. I spoke tothe professors. And they said,
Okay. One class was creativewriting. And the other class was
mystery authors. I loved bothclasses. If it wasn't for her. I

(21:10):
don't know what I would havedone. And they sat home and
healed. There's more to thehealing process. But I'm not
going to get into that rightnow. Right now, I want you to
stay with the idea that I had topee. I've found more mistakes

(21:31):
that could have been resolved. Itook action. I tried to get
people to help me resolve anissue.
And yet, somehow I was beinggiven another blow. Would I

(21:53):
rise? When I just sit down andyou know, pick my scab, lick my
wounds, have a pity party? Orwas I going to do something
about it? We'll find out nexttime. What I'd like you to do is
share this episode or any otherepisode with someone you know.

(22:17):
Go to Natasha alvarez.com thatis na T h as h a alvrez.com. And
pick up your free PDF. You willbe signed up to a newsletter.

(22:38):
Don't worry, I haven't done anynewsletters yet. But you will be
and get ready for the nextepisode where I tell you what
happens during the healing time.
Thank you so much and we willtalk soon