In a bid to care for children with strong allergies it seems schools have made allergic children feel socially isolated, different from their peers and vulnerable to being bullied:
TAKARA Rose is the face of a new dangerous fad of playground bullying. The eight-year-old has never hurt or been nasty to anyone, her only “crime” is she suffers a range of allergies.
Mum Alanna describes her daughter’s experience of bullying as terrifying, likening it to having a “loaded gun against her head”.
The year 2 student from Sandringham, in Sydney’s south, is dangerously allergic to nuts, dairy and eggs, meaning if she is exposed to foods containing those ingredients – even brushing past them – she can go into potentially fatal anaphylactic shock.
In a bad week, Ms Rose, 50, is forced to call the ambulance four times because of Takara’s extreme reactions.
Twice, the young girl has been chased by a group of year 6 boys threatening to throw nuts at her, leading her to once lock herself in the school toilets to stay safe.
Takara is among a disturbing number of food allergic children who are being targeted by bullies in Australia, which has one of the highest food allergy rates in the world.
“In her eyes, it’s like holding a loaded gun against her head,” Ms Rose said.
“It’s hard enough to live as restrictive as we do without having the added problem of being bullied by other kids,” Ms Rose said.
Ms Rose also said the school told her the incidents did not constitute “bullying”.
It seems as if the school doesn’t equate life threatening behaviour as “bullying”. How can we properly protect children when schools continue to make excuses for unacceptable behaviour?
Take this horrible story for example:
Central Coast paediatric nurse and founder of Allerchic website, Stephanie Holdsworth said she knew of one kindergarten child who ended up in the intensive care unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital for four days after having a peanut butter sandwich rubbed in his face by his young tormenters.
These incidents are not simply ‘bullying’ they represent the height of bullying. Nothing is likely to change for allergic kids unless schools are aware of their challenges, actively work to see that they are integrated properly within the school and that the culture of the school is such that bullying and harassment are not taken lightly.
Click on the link to read Doctors Able to Reverse Egg Allergies
Click on the link to read A Nut Allergy is Not a Disability
Click on the link to read Anaphylaxis: The New Form of Discrimination
Click on the link to read Nowadays There is Nowhere to Hide From Bullies
Click on the link to read When Something Doesn’t Work – Try Again Until it Does
