A terminally ill 11-year-old girl was absolutely humiliated when teachers at her school forced her to remove the fabulous purple wig she'd been rocking to help boost her confidence. Ashanti Elliott-Smith had been wearing the wig to cover her bald head caused by alopecia. But her teachers didn't seem to care about Ashanti's motivation or feelings. Pfff! They said she still had to remove the wig because it broke the school's dress code and they were afraid other kids would want to start dyeing their hair, también. Talk about priorities.
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Ashanti suffers from a rare and terminal disease called Hutchinson Gilford Progeria, which causes her to age eight times faster than her peers, and often comes with the added side effect of alopecia. As a result, she doesn't look like most other girls her age. Ashanti's mother Phoebe Smith explains wearing the wig wasn't about making some crazy fashion statement. It was just meant to help Ashanti feel better about herself. "Of course nobody has naturally pink hair, but we feel that anything Ashanti can do to cheer herself up is brilliant, and should be encouraged," she explains. "She already feels different to the other children and has had some mean comments. But when she was wearing the wig her friends said she looked lovely."
However, school administrators at Oakmeeds Community College, where Ashanti attends school, weren't as impressed with Ashanti's out-there wig. As soon as Smith had left her daughter's side, administrators forced the preteen to remove her wig. Their reasoning: "It was not cold in the school and she had never wanted to wear one before," says Colin Taylor, Head teacher at Oakmeeds Community College, later adding, "In the past other children have worn wigs following serious illness, but ones that were of a natural look–not large brightly colored ones."
Oh, so let me get this straight. The only way this girl will be allowed to wear a wig if it's freezing out, and even then it would have to look "natural"? That's ridiculous. Ashanti shouldn't have to be cold to be allowed to wear a wig. It's a wig, It covers her head the same way natural hair covers a person's head. And the school's stipulation that Ashanti's brisk weather wig look natural is equally arbitrary. Who cares if Ashanti wears a pink or purple or rainbow wig? She's not interrupting class time or running amok. She's practicing self-expression, and should other kids follow suit and color their head, then more power to them. Though, they'll need their parents' permission–not the school's.
According to Ashanti's mom, the preteen is devastated and hasn't wanted to go back to school since the incident occurred last week, which is a real shame. She's missed so much class time and time with her friends; that's a big deal for a girl who's life expectancy is only 15 years. "She's not going to be around for much longer, so we want her to live each day as happy as she can," explains Smith. Exactly. For her, every day counts; especially the good ones. So just let the girl wear the dang wig, already.
Image via swns.com
