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.
