Mistreatment

Ann Torode: No support

Ann was born in 1943 in Dulwich, London. She was sent to a special primary school, then known as an 'educationally sub-normal' school until her mother won a battle to have her moved to her local mainstream primary school. From there Ann went on to a girls' grammar school and afterwards to university.

More from
Ann Torode

Here Ann talks about how school staff ignored bullying.

Transcript

They did nothing whatsoever.
There was a dinner lady in the playground or whatever she was called, on duty and she watched these girls, every playtime they circled me and chanted and sang.
Punchinella was one of the songs.
I can’t remember it, but they just chanted and said things to me and I withdrew from my body and went up, which is a very bad thing to learn to do and I just thought, 'Well you can’t affect me, you can’t get to me, I’m not going to let you get to me'.
And mum came to the school one time and said, 'Can I speak to all the classes because I want to kind of talk to them about what’s happening' and she did and she told all the children in each class about the teasing and to stop it, but it made no difference whatsoever.
There was no support from the staff? No, no.

Explore more

Explore stories by theme or view the timeline of significant events in education for disabled people

A selection of other stories...