Leslie Templeton

Leslie Catherine Templeton (born January 7, 1997) is a disabled activist who is recognized for her work around disability, education, immigration, healthcare, and drug policy, although she has been involved in a large range of different issues. Templeton is known for her advocacy and focus on multi-marginalized communities when drafting policies on the local, state, and federal level.
She is currently serving on the board of the directors for the Women's March, with her term starting in 2019. At 23 years old, she is the youngest person to ever serve on the Women's March board. She's also runs the Women's March Disability Caucus. Templeton is an youth advocate and organizer, encouraging and creating opportunities for young people to get involved. Templeton has served as the Disability caucus chair and vice chair, College Democrats of Massachusetts' Disability and Health Caucus Chair, Young Democrats of Massachusetts Disability Caucus Chair, and has served on the board of Disability Issues Caucus. She has also served as a board member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a large international nonprofit surrounding drug policy and ending the war on drugs.
Early life and education
Family and childhood
Templeton's mother and father, Maura Hunter Templeton and David Templeton, married in 1994. Leslie Templeton would be the oldest of three girls, born in Tampa Bay, Florida but would go on to grow up in Northern New Jersey. Christine Templeton would be born the following year in 1998 and Shawn Templeton would be born in 1999. By age 7, Leslie was diagnosed for ADHD and dyslexia and made learning a challenge. She wouldn't start actually reading until 3rd grade and was designated as a special education student, but by sixth grade, had excelled past her grade reading level and entered advanced reading classes. Templeton credits this growth to the access she had to extra help, excellent special education programs in her school, and resources allotted to her due to the financial privilege she had at the time.
Templeton's sister, Christine Templeton, would find early success in singing, performing at places like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center while still in middle school. Christine Templeton would also perform at the Women in the World Summit in 2015 with the Manhattan Girl's Chorus, attended by famous and notable women worldwide such as Hillary Clinton.
Templeton would graduate from Montclair High School in 2015 and go on to attend Boston College in the fall of 2015 in pursuit of a degree in psychology.
Boston College
Templeton started becoming involved with activism and disability rights while at Boston College as a psychology major. She is slated to graduate in the spring of 2020.
Trump's travel ban
In 2017, in response to , Templeton started a housing program to help house students impacted by the executive order. International students that attended US universities were being blocked from re-entering the country, making many students fearful of leaving the country for breaks. The Heights, a Boston College newspaper, reported "Leslie Templeton, MCAS ’20, upon hearing about the travel ban, also began to worry about how affected students would find housing over breaks. She created a Google form to help students find housing over the breaks". Templeton stated that it is important to feel like you have a family and home over breaks for your mental health and international students with families to ensure they had a place to escape to during breaks to get that familial support, stating "Not only should they receive housing, but actually going to a family, for mental health reasons, just feeling like you have someone to go talk to, and just creating a family environment".
Disability rights and education
Templeton's first semester at college was cut short when she was hospitalized for multiple issues with her health. She would continue to experience issues with her health throughout her college experience, eventually being diagnosed with Temporal lobe epilepsy. Templeton also struggled throughout college with her depression and anxiety, something she has had from a young age.
University is where she began getting more deeply involved with disability rights and the disability community. Frequently, Templeton would speak on disability rights around campus, talking about issues posed by Trump's appointees and administration, highlighting how charter schools negatively impact disabled and other marginalized students, educating people about microaggressions, and highlighting inaccessibility and ableism around campus and in classrooms at Boston College. Templeton would write many viral articles noting her experiences as a disabled person and on topics related to disability, such as understanding disability and white privilege and the importance of fidget tools for disabled students, featured on outlets like the Huffington Post. Leslie Templeton, along with fellow disabled student Eliza Manriquez, would also bring attention to Boston College's issues with accessibility on campus after Manriquez had found non-tactile braille in the form of a flat sticker and brought it to Templeton's attention. The school said this was just temporary signage but Templeton had pointed out that under ADA, the temporary signage should have been replaced within 7 days, but it had been up for more than 7 days. Templeton and Manriquez used this opportunity to highlight how inaccessible and unwelcoming to disabled students Boston College has been, with laws like American with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, essential legislation that protect disabled people and students, are either being met to the bare minimum or ignored all together. "According to Templeton, students with disabilities often must advocate for the accommodations that help them to even the playing field. However, many professors do not understand the impact of having a disability and students are often unaware of laws that protect people with disabilities."
In the summer of 2017, in response to Donald Trump's and Betsy Devos' policies surrounding public education, the March for Public Education was held to protest these policies, organized by teachers. Growing up as a disabled student, Templeton spoke about why supporting public education for disabled students is so vital. "...Because of special services I was able to receive under legislation like IDEA and the rehabilitation act of 1973, I did something that if I had been born 30 years prior would have alluded me, and that was to read.
To be able to speak to you today demonstrates the privilege I was blessed to have. I am only one student of the 13% of all students receiving special educational services. I came from a nice town, grew up in a family with money at the time when I was diagnosed with my disabilities, and I am white. I bring this up because I am not the face of disabilities, just one of the many. For someone who has come from a marginalized community, I still held a lot of privilege growing up. I went to an excellent public school in a state with a great special education program. Not every student will be as lucky.
...It's one of the reasons I became a disability and education advocate, to demonstrate that we matter. Yet we are disproportionately represented in prisons, especially within female prisons were 40% have at least 1 disability. Also, a staggering 50% of people shot by police are disabled. Not only that, but us students with disabilities receive inadequate education in many states. It is our job as a society to look at these injustices and take a stand.
The first injustice I ask you to stand against is the under funding of legislation called Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The government is suppose to fund 40% of the bill when it comes to funding special education programs but falls short of that by more than 17 billion dollars, funding it only 16%-17%. We owe it to our students with disabilities to have it fully funded and have services provided to every and all students, no matter what public school they go to, the color of their skin, their native language, and the type of disability they have. I ask you to stand for public school special ed."

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu