By Aaron Zendejas
Do you ever stop and ask yourself, “Do I deserve this kinda treatment”? The answer to this question is NO! We go through life thinking we deserve what happens to us cause of the mistakes or bad decisions we make in our lives but, to be honest, some of us believe this to be the case. And others feel like there is a sense of misjustice. Well, no matter what at the end of the day NO ONE DESERVES TO BE MISTREATED, no matter the circumstances. We get the typical stereotype because we are inmates, but that whole saying, “Never Judge A Book By Its Cover” reference, really is fact.
We go through life thinking we are in our right to place judgment on others and mistreat them like they are not people but that is complete B.S.! Do you think it’s OK to put someone down verbally, emotionally, or physically?.. Do you think it’s right to drive people to harm themselves or others due to the fact you mistreated them? No, it’s not! I say all this because i am an inmate and I deal with this type of mistreatment on a daily basis.
I suffer from depression and I also suffer from bipolar disorders and that is a bad combo already but to deal with being 
mistreated is overkill. All the put-downs and the negative interactions; all the doing things right to better myself and all my hard work gets stepped on or brushed aside all because particular groups of people don’t respect me or acknowledge that I am a human being. I try to show the system that I’ve made mistakes in my life and I try to atone to them but it’s still never good enough.
There was a situation where I work that enables mistreatment of transgenders. It was pertaining to a bathroom situation. There are two work bathrooms, one in the main shop and the other in a break room that we as employees use. Being transgender we have a set of accommodations that by law we are supposed to have. And that is privacy. But that wasn’t the case in particular to 2 weeks of lack of privacy. During work hours its common sense to leave restrooms open for the workers to use.
But for whatever powers that be our bosses started to lock the break room bathroom, which reminds you there is privacy for a transgender to use. Having to ask permission to use the facilities is demoralizing, especially if you have to ask to unlock the door in order to use it. Well, being told “use the other restroom,” for most cases is OK if you are a guy but to ask a transgender to use a bathroom where there is no privacy and it’s open view so anyone can walk by the window and see you there, even though there is a little partition that is supposed to give you a sense of privacy, is just not only demoralizing but straight disrespectful. We are already surrounded by individuals that don’t like us or respect us but to put us out there and treat us like we are not being properly treated is disheartening.
Situations like this pushes me to the edge of the point of no return! I am a GOD DANG person! I understand most people can’t accept or understand my choices of ” WHO I AM” but that doesn’t excuse the fact that you could treat me like this.
I have to remind myself that no matter what, at the end of the day no one IS worth throwing all my positive work I’ve done away or especially allowing others to rule me like that. Remember, ALWAYS FILE PAPERWORK for situations like this! Never be afraid to do so. You may not think so but in the long run how is change supposed to happen without that first step?
