A 9-year-old girl with cerebral palsy has to endure life with a disability that makes some of the simple tasks we all do not pay much attention to a chore. Walking, eating, writing and simple movements can be much more difficult, physically, for someone who suffers from this, and other like afflictions. Now she has to endure ridicule from her neighbor, another 9-year-old as well as his adult (we presume) father.
What Happened
Here’s a story that will simultaneously break your heart, make you red with anger, and force you to wonder what the hell is wrong with some
people. It happened in East Sparta, Ohio — William Bailey and his 9-year-old son Joseph were videotaped allegedly making fun of a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy. At the school bus stop, William and Joseph were mocking the way that Hope walks, and Hope’s parents had had enough. They made red t-shirts that read “stop the bullying” and released the heartbreaking footage of Hope’s tormentors to the local news.
The Plot Thickens
But the plot thickens. The Bailey family alleges that, yeah, the father and son were walking funny, but it wasn’t meant to insult Hope, and plus, they were only doing that because Hope’s family was there, off-camera, yelling at Joseph Bailey and calling him a “retard”.
I don’t know what the hell is going on with these families, but whatever it is, it needs to stop, ASAP.
The Baileys and the Knights are next-door neighbors and the kids used to play together all the time, and then, suddenly, they became a modern day Hatfields and McCoys and are out to destroy one another. In their world, it’s an eye for an eye, a “retard” insult is retaliated with ridicule of a disabled child. Both families seem to believe that two wrongs definitely make a right.
Adults?
And in the middle are some innocent kids being called names and getting mocked at the bus stop … by adults.
Day in Court
Both families have filed claims against the other in their local courthouse, which will only seems to complicate a very simple issue. I hope the judge takes one look at this case, slams her gavel, and tells the Baileys and the Knights to stop being enormous dickheads.
