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This article was published 11/11/2014 (2140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EAST ST. PAUL -- He bit another child in the arm, but 15-year-old David Hanuschuk says it was pretty much the only defence he had after being picked up to be dumped into a garbage can.

David is a dwarf, one of only four or five dwarfs of whom his family is aware in Manitoba public schools.

His mother, Lisa Funk, said David has been bullied since he started kindergarten at Bird's Hill School, it peaked at Robert Andrews School in middle years, and it's continuing at Murdoch MacKay Collegiate.

It continued today at MMC, said Funk, who brought David home early after his story of years of torment in schools ran in today’s Free Press.

Bullies confronted David at school today and told him that it would be illegal to give their names to the Free Press, Funk said. Meanwhile, she said, "(The principal) asked David why he was in the paper, and David said he didn’t want to talk about it.

"He should call his parents," Funk said. "I’m surprised the school has not called me."

Funk said that David has been bullied throughout his school life.

'Kids picked him up, put him in the garbage can. I instructed him he could head-butt them or bite them (to protect himself)' ‐ Lisa Funk, of her son, David Hanuschuk

"There was never any consequence" for David’s tormentors, said Funk, who plans to lodge a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission today over the alleged bullying and what she alleges is inadequate special-needs support for David. She was unsure when David would return to school.

"Kids picked him up, put him in the garbage can. I instructed him he could head-butt them or bite them" to protect himself. But in Grade 5, when a bully picked David up, "He bit the kid on the forearm, the kid dropped him and David got suspended.

"People like to rest their elbows on his head, which he hates. He's tried (to defend himself) twice with head-butting, and he got in trouble for it. When he head-butts, he's at crotch level," said David's mother.

"Most (major bullying incidents) were at Robert Andrews," David said, but they started right from kindergarten at Bird's Hill School: "Pretty much the whole time I was there, I was getting bullied every day."

River East Transcona Supt. Kelly Barkman said through an aide Friday he can not discuss individual students.

But, said Barkman, "RETSD believes students have the right to receive equal educational opportunities in a safe and caring environment. When bullying violates that right, we strive to address it through our code of conduct, using intervention strategies to deal with the bully and support the victim.

"We can't talk about the specifics of this case, but we are following our policies regarding harassment and bullying. We take reports of bullying very seriously and try to deal with them in a timely way, with care and sensitivity," Barkman said.

"We work hard to address all concerns that come to us regarding our students, including our students with special needs. When parents have a problem, they're encouraged to follow our concern protocols, and that's a process that begins at the school level. If a family feels their child's needs aren't being met, then we certainly would like them to sit down with us to talk about it," said the superintendent.

Funk said David only knew sign language when he started school. He has low muscle tone that makes it difficult for him to handle zippers, laces and other mundane tasks and his legs go numb if his chair is too high for his feet to touch the floor. David was once off school for four months with back surgery, and he has a developmental delay.

"He was in 12-month clothing when he entered kindergarten -- he was in two-year clothes in Grade 5," she said. "I didn't want kids picking him up."

That was not only humiliating, Funk said, but "His arm sockets could pull out."

David said he could only extricate himself when dumped in garbage cans by rocking the garbage can until it fell over.

Throughout his schooling, he's been called names, and everything physical that almost everyone else takes for granted was too high for him.

"People need to understand what dwarfism is and how it affects his life," said David's aunt, Michelle Sveinson. "Light switches are too high, the door knobs are too high. His arms and legs are shorter than his body.

"He should have (an educational assistant) with him the whole day."

Funk said one teacher conducted a sensitivity session with David and his classmates, but that only led to further bullying immediately after class.

Her husband was teaching shop at Robert Andrews and tried to watch over David, but that led to so much conflict David's dad left the school and works elsewhere, she said.

Finally, they used schools of choice to get David six months of middle school at Arthur Day School, even though it was far from their home.

"They were really good to him; the team leader was superb," said Funk. The school arranged for David to have stools and a desk of appropriate height.

She drives David to and from Murdoch MacKay each day, way out of the catchment area. "The kids from Robert Andrews would be going to Kildonan East or River East Collegiate," she explained.

Even at Murdoch MacKay, Funk said, David is in a modified program and denied enrolment in vocational courses because that would supposedly be too dangerous for him.

"I worked with cars, I've worked with metals, I've worked with steam presses" with his uncle, David said.

She went into the high school at lunchtime one day, said Funk: "One kid was calling him a chimpanzee, a pansy."

Funk said teachers and principals do not react well to her constant advocacy for David. She's lobbied the Department of Education, the Department of Family Services, Safe Schools Manitoba, and other agencies to no avail.

Funk acknowledged one of the hardest things to get people to understand is just how few teachers and fellow students have come to David's assistance, who have intervened against bullies, helped him, befriended him. Other disabilities are far more readily accepted, she said.

The family is apprehensive that going public could exacerbate the bullying, rather than raising the awareness and empathy of David's fellow students.

"He's just one of the kids who falls through the cracks," Funk said.