I am chagrined in these so-called enlightened times that the newspaper that purports to represent the academic community of Northern Illinois University has to resort to such debasing and condemnable writing targeted at this, or any, subgroup of students. Individuals with disabilities represent the largest minority group in the United States.

They, like all other minority groups, were provided, during the founding of our great country, with the same inalienable rights as every other citizen. That they are not as militant or as vocal, perhaps, as other minority groups on campus, seems to allow The Northern Star staff the freedom to harass them.

I would ask the Star staff to spend 24 hours on campus as persons with disabilities only to realize that denying the right of accessibility thwarts many daily activities that are taken for granted. Students, faculty, and staff with disabilities are not asking for a panacea, only that consideration be given to priorities that would allow for a more normalized existence on campus.

Elliott Lessen, Ph.D.

Professor

Special Education