“Boys dared their friends to ask me out as a joke. Who would actually want to date the disabled girl? There was a voice in my head screaming I was a burden.”
‘Your hands are so small,’ he said. ‘There’s a reason for that.’ I told him everything. He took my atrophied hands in his and never let go.’: Interabled couple shares powerful love story
Teen Bullying Victim Turns Pain Into Purpose, Donates 600 Handmade Blankets To People In Need
“I was told I don’t matter. When I saw their smiles, I immediately forgot about the rest of the world around me, because the only thing that mattered was making that person feel loved.”
‘Hey look, it’s Two-Face!’ I’d come to school with purple burn dots. I felt like I was going through the pain for others.’: Woman with Sturge Weber Syndrome becomes advocate, ‘We aren’t scary monsters or villains’
“I was held down, screaming for them to stop. With each snap, a dot was burned onto the skin to break up the blood vessels of the birthmark. It was then I walked away from the world of wanting to look like everyone else.”
‘Do you want to go out for coffee?’ I texted the mother of my daughter’s bully.’: Mom urges ‘we don’t know what others are going through unless we listen’
“This mom, who I didn’t actually know, was having a really hard day — a really hard life, actually. For the first time, I shut my mouth and listened. Not every kid at school has what my daughter has at home.”
‘I don’t really like black people, but you’re different.’ I shrank inside myself. I couldn’t change my skin, but I could lose every identifiable piece of who I was to blend in.’: Woman recalls experiences with racism, ‘I’m no longer a scared little girl’
“After months of being teased about my accent, my clothes, my hair, my body, I had no wherewithal to speak up when the N-word came out of the mouth of someone I considered a friend. I froze. I spent the rest of the year working hard to drop my accent. I got quiet. I learned not to raise my hand, because the teacher would make it a point to humiliate me anyway.”
‘TikTok people are making fun of kids like my six-year-old son, and I am not okay with it. It completely devastates me.’: Mom of autistic child reacts to TikTok bullying, ‘We need to do better’
“They are at home making videos about how people like my son move, jump, flap, bounce and dance to express themselves. We are supposed to laugh and be entertained? Well, we are not.”
‘During my daughter’s daily Zoom meeting, her classmate said, ‘I don’t like Chinese people because they started this quarantine.’: Asian-American mom urges ‘we are not the virus’
“What made it worse is that this person was one of her friends.”
‘She showed me the texts, shaking. ‘My son and his friends were planning to splash a milkshake on her face.’: Mom urges ‘bullying affects everyone’
“I was at the beach with my kiddies when I saw a woman crying. She left from yelling at her 15-year-old son and went for a walk because she didn’t want him to see her tears. She found out he has been bullying a girl at school and took his phone. Shaking, she showed me the group texts.”
‘Today I listened to two women complain about how ‘disgustingly fat’ they were. Their children were RIGHT THERE. And so were mine.’: Mom shares powerful plea to end cycle of bullying, ‘Our children are hurting’
“‘Did you see what she’s WEARING?’ ‘She got fat!’ ‘God, she should date guys her age!’ ‘WHY doesn’t she just wear a bit of foundation?’ My children were right there.”
‘He cannot speak. He plays differently. He may not look you in the eye. Every day, I wonder, ‘Did someone play with him in the schoolyard?’: Mom says ‘thank you’ to young boy for acknowledging autistic son
“‘Hi Riley, see you in the yard.’ This one sentence made me beam from ear to ear. At that moment, I knew that my little boy was OK. My little boy had a friend, one who finally took the time to learn his name.”
