A 5-year-old girl was expelled from middle-school because she has childhood diabetes

by Shirley Marie Bradby

September 30, 2019

A 5-year-old girl was expelled from middle-school because she has childhood diabetes
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Dealing with particular health conditions is a difficult experience for any individual, especially for children who see themselves as being thus deprived of a happy and carefree childhood.

When to this situation, we also add the possibility of being subjected to acts of discrimination and exclusion, precisely because of that infirmity or disability, then the burden becomes truly unsustainable.

In this case, the protagonist of the circumstances just described is a little girl named Kiley Eliason. And we would like to share her story with you to raise awareness about such incidents.

via The Mighty

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In March 2019, the little girl was expelled from the New Life Academy, the school where she had been enrolled since 2016, due to her health conditions.

Kiley, who was 5 years old at the time, has childhood type 1 diabetes, and is forced to use an insulin pump to regulate her blood sugar levels.

The insulin pump battery must be recharged every 72 hours to prevent the child from experiencing hypoglycemia or a hyperglycemic episode, which can be very dangerous.

Due to the worsening of her situation, the school, which only a few years earlier had accepted Kiley's health condition, suddenly notified Kiley's parents of their decision to transfer Kiley because the school was no longer able to take the responsibility of managing her pathology.

All of her mother, Emma Garvey's appeals to at least let her daughter finish the school year were ineffective. The news was a hard blow to the whole family and, above all, to Kiley.

First, her illness had robbed her of her health and now it had taken away her school environment, her teachers, and her friends.

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At first, it seemed as if Kiley's world had collapsed, but then Kiley's parents managed to find a public school willing to open its doors and help take care of their child.

Of course, starting again in a new place in the middle of the school year was a real challenge, but the little girl was able to successfully face this situation and win.

In the previous school, the little girl's scholastic performance had not been very good, but now in the new school, she is one of the best students and her mood and outlook on life as improved significantly.

The little girl's mother has shared this story on social media, stating that the teaching staff at the New Life Academy had no responsibility for the expulsion, emphasizing the quality of the work they had done up to that point.

Her appeal is addressed to all schools and institutions and ordinary people in order to continue to raise public awareness regarding the subject of diversity and inclusion.

The hope is that more empathy and solidarity will be applied to these types of situations, of course, depending on the context. In any case, more awareness will help to provide all children, including the less fortunate, with the same identical opportunities for growth.

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