KOKO Junior: Meet Quaden Bayles, The 9 Year Old Bullied For Being A Dwarf

Quaden Bayles is an Australian boy with Achondroplasia dwarfism, a rare bone-growth disorder that makes him shorter than other kids. Reports has it that (as at when he was five) while the average five-year-old boy is around 3’3′, Quaden is almost a foot shorter at just under two-feet-five-inches tall. Quaden Bayles has come to limelight yesterday when his mom shared an emotional video of him crying for being bullied in school. He had been suicidal, asking for a rope and a knife for him to kill himself, so sad! Quaden was said to have been diagnosed with dwarfism since he was three days old and had undergone surgery as a result. Though she must have been saddening by the news at first, his mother Yarraka Bayles, 34, who is an advocate for dwarfism awareness became determined to help her son accept who he was and to help him realise he wasn’t alone. Quaden Bayles was bullied on several occasions, both by children and adults since he was about 4 years old, and his spirit was starting to crash until Buddy, his dog was bought for him and helped him find acceptance. A vet friend had contacted Quaden’s mother to say she had a dog her son had to meet. Quaden and Buddy have become an inseparable pair after meeting and according to the mom, their bond was instant, more of love at first sight. With Quaden being the only person in his community living with dwarfism, Yarraka became determined to help raise awareness of the condition that affects 1 in every 30,000 children born in the world.“Quaden has always looked different to other kids his age, which has made him an easy target for bullies. When I brought him home from the hospital, I didn’t know much about his condition. But as he’s grown up, I’ve seen first-hand how people respond to his appearance. Strangers in the street stop and stare at him and he’s been called ‘ugly’, a ‘freak’ and a ‘midget’ by others. It’s heartbreaking. All I’ve ever wanted for Quaden was for him to be happy and healthy. But by putting ourselves out there, it also gave bullies an opportunity to put him down.
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I’ve been able to shield him from most of it, but I can’t stop people gawking at him in the streets or pointing and laughing. As soon as Quaden realised he was different from everyone else, I tried really hard to make him see it as a positive. I’d tell him ‘It’s good to stand out in a crowd. You’re really cool’ but nothing I said helped boost his confidence. The jibes really got him down. Things got particularly bad when Quaden started school this year and was around young kids who regularly pointed out his physical differences“, Daily Mail reports that Quaden Bayles mom, Yarraka disclosed. Photos Credit: Getty