Dear University : An Open to letter to all institutions of higher education regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities

   Dear  University,

  I want to tell you a story  about   a once highly motivated student  who is now the poller opposite.
   This student  grew up in a family that valued higher education.  The student was from a home where bed time stories were  a natural occurrence and  the path to college was  discussed at length    The parents paid students grades in junior high  and high school.  During  a middle school graduation the student friends parent  told   the student that  they only had four years of college left.  Without  missing a beat the student said. " No. I have  eight more  years, the student was  graduati
ng from 8th grade,  I am  going to college.   The  student's  path was set. They wanted to get a BA.

    The spring  of the students freshman  year, they  developed OCD.  It was  really  hard and made the student  regress. Also with the demands on social  in high school  the student was  behind and had trouble making friends due to  Non verbal  learning disorder.  In her junior year of  high school a  job coach told the student and their mother that  the student would probably work in the back room of Safeway. This and  OCD  made the student fear  high school graduation.  Nonetheless she  graduated.  Although the student had a rough start, they ended up excelling  in school.  Th
ey   graduated with an AA in social scince   with honors.  But they  were not done. They wanted  to get a BA and  go into the education field.

    Last year they went to a University  highly motivated to  finish.  But then  they  ran up against ableism.  The campus  was complete  inaccessible     There was no way for the student to   self serve in the lunch room.  The  room that housed  classes  lacked an elevator.

   One Professor  told the class " That all students   lean language  without ever being taught."   The  student  held their tongue at  first but was visibility upset because she  a speech impairment due to Cerebral  Palsy and had a  hard time learning to speak.   When they the student did say something  the professor  replied , " Well all  normal children do. "  That really  hurt the student.   What was  worse  is that the  professor  overly  praised the student when they  got the seconded highest grade then  admitted to the student that they  " were surprised that [the student]  did so well."    When an able bodied  student who got higher then said student was given the  test.  The student received no fan faire despite getting a hundred percent.

 Another teacher tesed a student's hat.   When the student had long hair and due to Cerebral  Palsy could not  do  their  hair  so they needed a  hat.  The same history  professor asked the  class " If  anyone had a rope." when said student had too many questions.  The student was   part African American  and the teacher  taught United States history.   They  could have  ment  lynching.
  This  remark was complete out of line.

    The last teacher  compared  student  to a  child  in front of the class.  The  teacher later apologized for this  remark.   Making her the only teacher to apologize 


  The administration  refused to let  the  student return  to school  for personal reasons    The  student   returned to school Fall 2014 under a contract.     The contract  stated  among other  things that   the student could only  take  two classes and  had to behave.  In the event that she  did not  behave, she was blamed for reacting to teachers   remarks, she  was to see  the  Disability  person, how  can  one person be in charge of all students with disabilities on a college campus.   On thursday  the student got  a message from a conduct  person.     Which violated the contract.     What made it worse  was that the student  went to advisor asking what the meeting was about. The consular said "  I do not want to speculate.    The student  then met with the conduct person  who said the consular  was    the one to report the incident.   The  student had  went into  a class  asking  to  switch the classes that she    wanted  because everyone   who  took it was fun.    The    advisor  said the student broke the conduct code.   Another student said the  student  had   followed  procedure and  had not broken the conduct  code.

 The student  is already  behind because they  do not feel wanted.    They do not  trust  anyone at  the university.   They feel betrayed  by the consular.  They  had  problems   committing to two  classes.  Although the professors were decent this  semester  the administration  has  been  hard to deal   with.


   So what  happend  to the student.  Well,  they  are currently recovering  l  from a major  bout of depression  brought on by this  stressed.  They  recovered not by  the  promise of  a college education but   with   I  pad  games, The  now   scan   the community for  entry  level  jobs and  are having a hard  time focusing on  education.  They   are   hesitant  to   try another  school.   The  student is  writing  this  to  teach you a few things.

 1 Make   campuses  accessible.   Every  lecture hall  should have  an  elevator.
2  Treat every student like a person  not a trained seal.  Not  a   half  person  not   a miracle.     
3   Dont  joke  about disabled students.    Make  them  feel  included.
4     Follow the  Golden  Rule.

5   If the  student  is on contract  follow  it. 


6   If the student  has   social  problems  do not criminalize them.   Use it a  teachable  moment .   Be  patient  everyone  make  mistakes.
7  Honesty
 8   Admit that you do not know everything.  Ask the student  to  teach you  about their  background.  Be willing to listen  about  what it is like  to be them.
9  Be  Patient
 10   Have training  for all  staff  on  ability  awareness.  Take  the   R  word  pledge.   Learn what Ableism  is.  

 ***  You  may not be able to do all of these  things  due to lack of  funding, yet  all  staff can  have  heart and show a little loving kindness  for all  students.  Especailly   minority  students.


    
   All the students  that  I have  met in  university  have  rallied around me.   I  have  enjoyed   talking to you guys. Thanks  for treating me  kindly   when  the  staff  has  not.  The   Center  for spirituality and the  director  of student  retention  have  been awesome  too.  You  guys   rock.