Beating the bullies

Bullying is an all too regular thing in schools, with disabled children more likely to be targeted than others. Henal Ganatra, 16, shares his experience and tells how he’s got to a position where he’s able to help victims

It started when I moved from Leicestershire to London and joined my new primary school. As I’m not English by birth (I was born in Africa), everything was new to me and the language barrier didn’t make it any better.

At first I failed to socialise and make friends because I didn’t know how to, so I was classified as the quiet boy of the class. Then, due to my disability, cerebral palsy, I used gadgets to support me in my learning, and from being a quiet boy who never talked to anyone I became the centre of attention, which I didn’t like at all.

Neither did some of the children around me.

They felt they were being left out, got more and more jealous and started calling me horrible names. When it was playtime they’d segregate me from their group and stop me joining in.

From then on I became very sensitive and emotional and felt as if I was all by myself. Name-calling turned to hitting and in some cases spitting.

My biggest mistake at this time was not telling anyone. One boy told me “if you tell anyone I’ll hit you more” so I bottled it up. I did eventually tell a teacher but very little got done.

Then finally, while we were doing our exams, one of my so-called friends managed to get my house number out of me, called the school, said horrible things about a teacher and left my number. The next day the headmaster called me to one side after the exam and quizzed me.

When I burst into tears, he said that if I didn’t tell him what I’d done he’d take me out of the exam and involve the police, which got me extremely scared, so I admitted to something I hadn’t done.

That afternoon when my mother came to pick me up, she noticed that something wasn’t right. Again I bottled it up until I broke down in tears again. When I finally told her what had been going on, she went straight back to the school. The next day everything was sorted out.

One day I saw some kids rapping and it sounded poetic and emotional to me. So that night I went home and started writing and soon it developed into a mechanism that I used for dealing with the bullying.

For example, if I was sad I’d write slowly and sadly and if I was mad at some­thing I’d push the pen down on the paper angrily. I always said to myself that the paper was the only thing that listened to me and understood me.

If you get bullied, don’t bottle it up. Tell someone, even if the person or group that bullies you warns you not to. Anything you say will make a huge difference and get things sorted out more quickly. Remember, also, that no one has a right to abuse you. You’re not alone if you tell someone.

• Henal is a CyberMentor with the charity Beat Bullying. For more information visit www.beatbullying.org