Disabled Girl Bullied By Threatening Text Messages

By Alissa Grisler

     

      According to a 2005 study, 1 out of every 5 Americans is classified as having a disability.  Another study shows that out of children aged six through fourteen, eleven percent of them will be born with a disability. With such a high ratio of disabled persons in America, you’d have thought that by now we would have realized that disabled people aren’t abnormal, or weird, and should be treated with respect, just as you would be expected to treat anyone else. However, some people still don’t seem to understand this. Shea Shawhan is a perfect example.

     For 8 months, eighteen-year-old High School Junior Shea Shawhan was sent violent text messages, harassing her and bullying her over her condition. Even though Shea is eighteen, due to a brain injury suffered at birth she now has the mental capacity of an eight year old. The threats were sent anonymously, telling Shea that she should kill herself and people wished she would have another seizure and die. There were also messages threatening to rape her. One message said, “I’m pretty sure ur going to hell. God doesn’t like sluts. U need to be cleaned.” Because of this torment Keri Riddell, Shea’s mother, has been coming to Shea’s school to sit with her at lunch.

    Many would fall apart over this kind of bullying, but not Shea. Instead, Shea’s mother set up a Facebook page called I’m With Shea. Here, people can show their support for Shea by posting on her wall. Other victims of bullying are telling Shea that she is an inspiration to them. This page currently has 70, 129 likes. What is, sadly, a fairly common occurrence has turned into a National story.

     

To show their support for Shea, at their Homecoming football game, many students came out sporting green, I’m With Shea T-Shirts. Even some students from the opposing school wore them to show Shea they had her back. She herself had on a shirt saying, I’m Shea, although she clearly needed no introduction. This display of kindness goes a long way. Shea has received a lot of support from Plano West Senior High School, and strangers whose lives she never even knew her story could affect.