I really can't believe how inconsiderate people can be, I had a similar experiences in school the one thing that stopped the people laughing was taking a stand for myself. Although I don't advocate violence but I git into more then a few fights over the issue. Soon people stopped, I picked up sports, started studying harder and was in a much better place. The thing is the more you let people have a laugh at the expense of your self respect the more they are going to do it.