Alex, high school student

My name is Alex McCoy and I go to a public high school. I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome along with other comorbidities such as POTS and MCAS. I use forearm crutches for stability for my joints. I use the elevator instead of stairs, mainly on bad pain days, as I sometimes use the stairs. My principal was walking up the stairs and I was coming down (using my crutches) and she made a snide comment with the woman she was walking about about me using the stairs. It was hard enough with students calling me a cripple or being rude to me due to my disability much less teachers and principals. Whenever the topic of disability would come up in class, teachers would single me out to make an example of, which was humiliating especially as I never specifically mentioned my disability, they simple saw the crutches and made a guess. They would belittle my illness, saying it was just a leg problem, without knowing anything about it, and then go to say that I am incredibly disabled and

singling me out whenever we discussed anyone with any form of illness. This was difficult as I was already trying to deal with using mobility aids while being seen as “normal” and not be made fun of or teased in front of my classmates. I contacted my school about some of the treatment (my principals comment) and received a message basically saying that that was unfortunate but no apology (not that I expected one, just that they were not fazed). My school is not very accessible but some students are very nice and will hold the door or help me when needed. Some teachers are also incredible good about it, as they do not mention it, or ask question, and will not single me out in conversation (i.e. my history teacher when the topic of FDR using crutches after polio came up; he did not look or point at me or hint at anything related to my illness). Some teachers can be incredible nice and supportive about it, especially when they do not make a big deal out of it and do not

treat me differently. My best advice for teachers with disabled students would be that they shouldn’t single them out or ask questions, but simply give them the accommodations they need and leave it at that. Announcing people’s issues, problems, or personal details just makes it harder on the student. Especially because a lot of disabled students do not need the whole class to know. A lot of them will have written or oral accommodations requests and it should be left at them sharing their needs and the teacher enforcing those without announcing it. I personally appreciated my history teacher never singling me out or making accusations, assumptions, or remarks about me or my disability. Not all teachers are as kind about it, but I was incredibly grateful for him.