The family of a Murri boy will donate more than $600,000 to local charities after declining a crowdfunding trip to Disneyland.<\/p>\n
Young Quaden Bayles, 9, who was born with Achondroplasia, the most common form of Dwarfism, was visibly distressed in a Facebook video his mother posted last week after he had been bullied earlier that day.<\/p>\n
In it, he was in tears and wanted to kill himself: \u201cGive me a knife\u2014I want to kill myself\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
His mother Yarraka decided to share the video to show what her son had endured since he was three years old.<\/p>\n
American comedian Brad Williams, who also is a dwarf,\u00a0set up a GoFundMe page\u00a0on February 21, attracting almost $720,000 from 20,000 global donations for a trip to Disneyland.<\/p>\n
He wrote: \u201cThe bullying was so severe \u2026 I\u2019m setting up this GoFundMe to let Quaden know that bullying will not be tolerated, and that he is a wonderful human being who deserves joy. I want to fly Quaden and his mother to America, get them a nice hotel, and bring them to Disneyland\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, Quaden\u2019s Aunty Mundanara Bayles told NITV News that \u201cwhile it\u2019s a touching example of goodwill, the family will skip the all-expenses paid trip as they want to focus on the bigger issues at play\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kid wouldn\u2019t want to go to Disneyland, especially if you have lived Quaden\u2019s life. To escape to anywhere that is fun that doesn\u2019t remind him of his day to day challenges,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut my sister said \u2018you know what, let\u2019s get back to the real issue\u2019. This little fella has been bullied. How many suicides, black or white, in our society have happened due to bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want the money to go to community organisations that really need it. They know what the money should be spent on, So as much as we want to go to Disneyland, I think our community would far off benefit from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to come together and work out how to make sure young people like Quaden don\u2019t have to deal with what they have been dealing with,\u201d Ms Bayles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had seven kids at the Murri School in Brisbane, where I am on the board, take their lives in the last ten years,\u201d she told NITV News.<\/p>\n
Mr Williams announced on Friday that about $100,000 will be donated to six local charities with the remainder going towards \u201ca fund for future medical and support expenses for Quaden\u201d.<\/p>\n
The charities Born This Way Foundation, STOMP Out Bullying, Dolly\u2019s Dream, Dwarfism Awareness Australia, Gallang Place and Balunu Healing Foundation are the likely recipients.<\/p>\n
The rest of the crowdfunding will go towards direct medical help, education, accommodation costs, food to feed the family, and for donating to any additional charities of their choosing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been in close communication with Quaden\u2019s family and fully respect their needs and the needs of Australian First Nations people who are experiencing bullying and discrimination at extremely high rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of this, I\u2019ve decided that the donations will be best served going to charities focused on helping individuals affected by bullying and discrimination,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Quaden\u2019s Law push for school curriculum<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Yarraka Bayles is pushing for a new law called Quaden\u2019s Law to be introduced into state and national school curriculums.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe discussed a care plan for Quaden if\/when he chooses to return to school, or when we feel the time is right. We are working with the school to introduce an educational tools for schools package around disability awareness, diversity and inclusion,\u201d she told NITV.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt went okay \u2026 They were all very supportive in helping to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Quaden\u2019s story, he has gone from despair to \u201chigh spirits\u201d as the family continued to just get on with their lives, according to Ms Bayles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit overwhelming but we are doing good considering. It\u2019s pretty full on but we are strong enough to get through especially with all the mobs support and unconditional love,\u201d she told NITV News.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuaden is ok. He is spinning out a bit, we just have to protect our boy as best we can. We\u2019ve got a good team around us now.\u201d<\/p>\n
His Aunty said: \u201cHe\u2019s just an amazing kid that\u2019s larger than life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The family of a Murri boy will donate more than $600,000 to local charities after declining a crowdfunding trip to Disneyland. Young Quaden Bayles, 9, who was born with Achondroplasia, the most common form of Dwarfism, was visibly distressed in a Facebook video his mother posted last week after he had been bullied earlier that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-important-news"],"views":39,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2680,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677\/revisions\/2680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}