This week, the story of nine-year-old Australian boy Quaden Bayles has gone viral. Days ago, Quaden’s mother posted a video of her son feeling clearly distraught after subjection to ongoing bullying from his classmates.
#StopBullying is trending because of this video. But that is not enough! #QuadenBayles is just 9 and in so much pain from the daily taunting of his classmates that he wants to end his life. His mom does not blame the school, but I do! pic.twitter.com/FvTtXsMK8m
— Perez (@ThePerezHilton) February 21, 2020
The video is deeply upsetting to watch. Quaden, who suffers from dwarfism, is seen crying and even expresses an interest in killing himself because of the bullying.
In the wake of the viral footage, countless people and celebrities across the globe have shown support to Quaden Bayles and his family. The GoFundMe page to send Quaden to Disneyland has garnered over $250,000 in donations, despite the original goal of $10,000.
#QuadenBayles is also currently trending on Twitter while new developments confirm that the nine-year-old has received invites to NBA games, martial arts lessons, and more.
Boy who was severely bullied at school gets invited to lead all-star rugby team out for their next match.
Quaden Bayles, who has dwarfism, received an outpouring of support worldwide after his mom shared an emotional clip of him on social media. https://t.co/OcTkrdBrA7 pic.twitter.com/pTqzUD8PSO
— ABC News (@ABC) February 21, 2020
The support for Quaden is nothing short of amazing. However, the fact that an innocent child was in this much pain, to begin with, indicates the importance of more work to end bullying.
Responsibilities of the School Staffers
The distressing footage in which Quaden talks about suicide came after numerous incidents of bullying. This was not a one-time incident and quite frankly, Quaden’s school bears some responsibility for what he endured.
