Disablist Bullying

My friends make me give them sweets. They say they won’t be my friends if I don’t. But they never give me anything. Mary I haven’t got any friends. At playtime I just walk round the playground on my own. I would give the other children anything if they would be my friends. Kuldip One of the girls pokes me with her pencil when the teacher isn’t looking. It makes me cross, and I hit her, so it is always me that is in trouble. Liz Some boys say rude names as I walk past, and turn their backs on me if I try to talk to them. Tim I carry the other girls’ bags so they’ll be my friends. Steph The other boys stare at me – they know it makes me edgy and sometimes I get upset because of it. Jack watch?v=DbXyljItrIw DISABLIST BULLYING

Peter's story I'm Peter and I'm 17 years-old. In my spare time I like horse riding and playing on my computer. When I went to my old school I got bullied really badly. I got bullied at break times by other children at school. They would call me names, spit at me and throw stones and bottles at me. The bullying made me feel very angry and sad. The bullying stopped me going out at home, so I lost all my mates. I don't have any mates any more, so I don't play out any more. I told my teachers at school and they said that I had special needs so I should get used to it as I would be bullied all my life. They also told me to stop playing out at break times then I would not get bullied. The bullying carried on until my mum and dad found out and then I moved schools. I want adults to stop the bullies. And I want people to listen to us when we tell them what's happening.

WONDER by R.J. Palacio has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide since its original publication in

I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an Xbox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go. If I found a magic lamp and I could have one wish, I would wish that I had a normal face that no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look- away thing. Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way. From WONDER, Chapter: Ordinary Wco

The storyline My name is August. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. August Pullman is about to start secondary school. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go. Born with a facial anomaly, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he’s being sent to a real school - and he’s dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, underneath it all?

It’s like people you see sometimes, and you can’t imagine what it would be like to be that person, whether it’s somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who can’t talk. Only, I know that I’m that person to other people, maybe to every single person in that whole auditorium. To me, though, I’m just me. An ordinary kid. From WONDER, Chapter: Floating

I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks. From WONDER, Chapter: Halloween

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