'DEHUMANISING'
THE mum of a bullied schoolboy with dwarfism has broken down in tears as she revealed the cruel moment which led to her son's heartbreaking meltdown.
Yarraka Bayles, from Brisbane, Australia, has broken her silence about the video she shared, showing her distressed son Quaden saying he wanted to kill himself.
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Quaden Bayles, nine, received an outpouring of support from the public and celebs such as Hugh Jackman after the video went viral, ultimately launching an anti-bullying campaign.
Quaden and his mother were forced to disappear for a while from social media after relentless trolling online.
One allegation was that he was really an 18-year-old actor.
But in a tearful interview with Aboriginal broadcaster NITV Yarraka spoke about the cruel treatment of her son which she wanted to expose.
She said: "This was Quaden’s third week back at school. He missed the first week due to a family funeral in Sydney.
"We’d just come back to Brisbane and we’d been working with the hospital and the school to get him back into school."
'GIRLS LAUGHED AT HEIGHT AND PATTED HEAD'
But when Yarraka picked him from school where he had been watching his favourite basketball team playing, she spotted him looking uncomfortable.
She said: "I noticed Quaden in the middle of the line and a group of girls around him.
"Apparently there was a new student who wasn’t aware of Quaden’s condition and she’d been making remarks ongoing and Quaden just had had enough at that time.
"When me and my daughter witnessed that – just the patting on the head and a couple of other little girls making references to his height and laughing about it – he was very uncomfortable.
"I could see the look on his face, and I know that look very well because it’s a regular occurrence for him."
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Angry, she said she had wanted to speak to the girls, but Quaden begged her not to make a scene.
She said: "As soon as we got in that car, about 15 minutes after the incident, he just broke down. It just affected him.
"Patting someone on the head can be quite dehumanising.
"It’s almost like you think they’re an animal or a novelty – they’re not quite human."
Quaden has been inundated with support after the heartbreaking video of him crying hysterically went viral.
He told his mum Yarraka: "Give me a knife — I want to kill myself. I just want to die right now."
A GoFundMe page started by US comic Brad Williams — who also has dwarfism — initially aimed to raise $10,000 (£7,800) to send him to Disneyland.
But it raised many times the target as donations flooded in from around the world.
Now his family say they are grateful for the support but have decided not to accept any of the money.
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Heartbroken mum posts video of son, 9, to show devastating reality of bullying