An American student living with a disability has delivered a desperate plea to peers following her university’s decision to drop its mask mandate.
Not only was the mandate dropped, so too was the university’s policy that made it free for students to drop courses they no longer wanted to complete.
The combination left Greta Estem – who is immunocompromised due to her disability – at serious risk of contracting a potentially fatal case of COVID-19, according to her recent TikTok.
In a morbid address to her class, she implored them to wear a mask so she could continue to learn among them.
“I just wanted to say something. Ya’ll know I’m disabled. If I get Covid, I will die and if I’m really really lucky, I might just be further disabled for the rest of my life,” she told the class.
“If you don’t want to wear a mask in the library that’s fine, if you don’t want to wear a mask in the hallway that’s fine, because those places I can avoid.”
That particular class however, she was required to attend.
“I cannot afford to drop this class, it is $6000. And I’m also required to be here for longer than it takes to contract Covid with an N95 [mask] on,” she said.
“So I would really appreciate having equal access to this class and not having to do it on Zoom, and that is reliant on ya’ll wearing masks so that I can take this class like any other able-bodied student.”
While mask wearing in university settings is encouraged in Australia, they have not been mandated in several months.
Ms. Estem has argued the ditching of the mask mandate at her university, which she has chosen not to name, is an example of ableism.
“POV: your university repeals its mask mandate immediately after it’s no longer free to drop classes, and you now have to beg your classmates for safety,” she captioned her video, shared over the weekend.
The video has been viewed more than a million times in less than four days but all comments have been blocked.
Viewers have however taken to other videos from Ms. Estem to express their support.
“If someone asked that nicely I would wrap my head in masks. I hope they were understanding,” one person wrote.
“You’re incredible. Good job fighting for your right to an education without having your health and life on the balance,” another wrote.
“As a fellow disabled person I stand with you. It’s terrifying out here and asking the bare minimum gets you thrown so much hate. You deserve health, life, and access to your education,” a third said.
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