10.6.7. Accessible facilities

METU provides accessible facilities for people with disabilities across its campus.

Physical access

METU campus buildings are equipped with ramps, lifts and platform lifts for wheelchair users, and pedestrian routes between faculties, dormitories, sports facilities and cafeterias have been made accessible since the 'Accessible METU' project began in 1998.

In 2025, all 73 lifts on the campus were regularly maintained and inspected (METU YITDB, 2025 Activity Report).

The Faculty of Architecture is carrying out its Disability Access and Safety-Based Management Plan, launched in 2023 as a five-year, staged plan to give people with disabilities independent access to its modernist heritage building while protecting the building's original qualities. In 2025, as part of the Faculty's spatial arrangement and action plan, the accessibility points within the building were mapped.

https://kalite.metu.edu.tr/sites/kalite.metu.edu.tr/files/kidr2025.pdf

The indoor and outdoor swimming pools have accessible changing rooms and a lift.

https://sgdb.metu.edu.tr/sites/sgdb.metu.edu.tr/files/odtu2025yiliidarefaaliyetraporu.pdf

Finding and removing barriers

Through the Disability Support Office's 'Hunting the Barriers' form, anyone can report an obstacle on campus so that it can be removed.

 Accessible transport and resources

• A specially equipped vehicle with a weekly route plan has replaced the earlier taxi-ticket service for students with reduced mobility; four students used it in the fall semester of 2024–25, and in 2025 the Department of Construction and Technical Works continued to provide it on request from the Disability Support Office (METU Institutional Self-Evaluation Report 2025; METU YITDB, 2025 Activity Report).

• The Accessible Resources Office converts printed course materials into accessible formats for visually impaired students.

https://engelsiz.metu.edu.tr/en/hunting-barriers