Dear Editor,

My name is Jacob Lesner–Buxton and I am a student at CSU East Bay in the Masters of Social Work program. I also live on campus in the dorms. I am writing to express my concern about a string of incidents that have taken place in the last two months on campus where I was made fun of or had hateful words spoken in my presence because I have a disability. The incidents include the following:

· Tonight as I was getting dinner at the dining commons, a male stepped ahead of me in line, and called a female near us “retarded.” When I got up the counter, the cashier kept laughing at them as she rang me up.

· Yesterday, I accidently spilt some laundry soap in the hallway of my building near where two women were walking by and they said very loudly, “Oh no, did someone spill some soap?” and were laughing and pointing at me.

· About three weeks ago, some men were throwing a ball that was hitting my window, and when I called out to them to stop, they mocked my speech.

· My speech was again made fun of by two men at dinner when I sat at the table next to them in the beginning of October.

While these incidents might seem harmless to some, I am concerned because this year is by far the worst amount of teasing that I have ever experienced in my seven years of going to college. The teasing makes me feel angry. No one deserves to be treated like this, and I fear there are many disabled people on campus who feel alienated and unsafe on campus. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity and to feel safe. I have been trained to lead workshops on disability awareness and would love to do whatever I can to spread understanding on this campus. We all need to come together to change the nature of our campus so it is safe for all, no matter our differences.

Sincerely,
Jacob Lesner-Buxton