“You know that feeling when you walk up to somebody, and they...

“You know that feeling when you walk up to somebody, and they don’t really give you eye contact, because they don’t want to talk to you?  Well a few of the kids in school started treating me that way.  Other people saw it happening and it spread so fast.  Because everyone learned that it was the normal way to behave.  And everyone wanted to be normal.  It jumped from grade to grade until the whole school was avoiding me.  I’d get cyber bullied.  My phone would vibrate all night with mean messages.  I had such a negative view of myself.  I was self-harming.  I felt so trapped in the moment.  It was so hard for me to realize that eventually it was going to stop.  Then one day I was out on the playground and the usual group of kids were picking on me.  And an older boy walked over.  He knew me from cycling.  He had a bit of power because he was from a higher grade.  He said: ‘Stop this now.  Don’t you understand what you’re doing to her?’  The whole playground saw him do that.  And after that things began to turn around.  Because people learned that was the normal way to behave.”
(Special Olympics World Games, Abu Dhabi, UAE)