The mother of Quaden Bayles, a nine-year-old boy born with a rare form of dwarfism, who was bullied at school, claims that her son is still being targeted and tormented by trolls.
Young Quaden, who hails from Brisbane in Australia went viral on social media back in February, after his mom, Yarraka Bayle, posted a video showing him weeping uncontrollably.
She captioned the upsetting footage: "This is the [impact] of bullying! I seriously don’t know what else to do [sic]."
Watch the original video of Quaden below (warning: some viewers may find this distressing):In the video itself, Yarraka states:
"I've just picked my son up from school, witnessed a bullying episode, rang the principal, and I want people to know - parents, educators, teachers - this is the effect that bullying has. This is what bullying does", before Quaden says, "Give me a knife, I'm going to kill myself."
Not long after the clip was uploaded to Facebook, Quaden received an outpouring of support from viewers who sympathized with his plight.
For example, X-Men actor Hugh Jackman sent him a touching message of friendship, and while the comedian Brad Williams managed to raise more than $70,000 via GoFundMe to send Quaden on a trip to Disneyland.
However, per News.com.au, Yarraka claims that trolls are still targeting Quaden and her family.
In a statement made to the Disability Royal Commission on Monday, Yarraka stated that she receives hateful messages "still to this day, every day."
She stated that there are still people online out who "think it’s their business to make comments... lots of death threats... physical harm against my children, my granddaughter."
She added that she originally uploaded her video out of frustration with the way the name-calling and taunting of her had been poorly handled for a number of years, adding that she now wants to introduce an initiative called Quaden's Law to raise awareness of the harmful effects of bullying.
Yarraka told the commission:
"I honestly feel like it took for a viral video for us to be able to get the support we need. It just felt like there was not enough being done, so I just stopped complaining.
"I felt like I was being more of a burden or, you know, they’re looking at us like we’re a couple of sooks, and we should just get on with it, and not complain, or report any of these incidents."
According to News.com.au, the Royal Commission is currently holding its seventh public hearing on the issue of the treatment of school students with disabilities in Australia.
