Jake’s just like any other kid at his school: he likes sports, plays video games and does all the usual things you’d expect. But Jake doesn’t fit in with the others. You see, he’s autistic and – whether his schoolmates do it intentionally or not – they exclude him from their cliques and he’s made to feel different.
Not all bullying needs a bunch of big kids beating up a smaller one and Jake feels the time has come to tell the others. He’s decided it’s time to stand up for himself and he does just that in this brilliant video…
What Jakes does is called being an ‘Upstander’ by the good people at the Bully Project, who helped organise this intervention. And it takes a huge amount of guts from the person standing up!
“I just think that … really I don’t think you guys see me for me,” Jake said as he boldly stood before his peers. “I think really you guys see me as a big target, ’cause like you guys are always like leaving me out of stuff — like never paying attention to me or anything I say.”
Witness Jake’s awesome bravery in this impressive video:
What a dude, eh? Well done, Jake! If you’d like to find out more about the sterling work that The Bully Project do, head to their website (which can be found here).
If you know anyone that struggles with others and could use a little confidence like Jake here, why not share this video with them?
