A 14-year-old British teen who suffers from Asperger syndrome created a first-person video to show the anguish he faces daily.
For U.K.’s anti-bullying week, Ryan Wiggins wrote, produced and shot a video that depicts his daily life of living with Asperger syndrome and dealing with the torment of others at school.
Armed with a camera, selfie stick and a tripod, Wiggins created the two-and-half minute, black and white short dubbed Tomorrow.
The film begins with the sleepy teen awaking in his bed.
“Will I ever know what it’s like to wake up every morning with no fears, regrets or worries?” Wiggins said. “Perhaps not today, but maybe tomorrow.”
As Wiggins gets ready for school he talks about how he feels “ashamed” and “disgusted” with himself.
Dressed in a suit and tie, the teenager heads off to school.
Later, Wiggins is seen crying in what appears to be a washroom. The film then cuts to a scene of Wiggins running home, where he collapses in tears at the front door.
The kid then receives text messages to the likes of “kill yourself,” “freak” and “go die.”
“How much more of this do I have to take?” Wiggins said. “When will it end?”
In an interview with the BBC last week, Wiggins said he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when he was 10 and the bullying began as soon as he started school.
“It would be things like the kids not let me play with the games, it then escalates as the years went by,” Wiggins said.
The teen said he would come home from school and go straight to bed “to have the day end.”
“It’s not really going to get better if you just leave it,” he said. “That’s the truth, it won’t. All you can do is just talk to someone…the best thing you can do is just talk to someone.”
The film was posted to Anna Kennedy Online’s YouTube account, the autism awareness charity’s video channel Wiggins runs.
Since posting on November 16, the video has over 219,000 views and has been shortlisted for the 2015 National Diversity Awards.
Asperger syndrome is an Autism Spectrum Disorder. According to Autism Speaks Canada, one-in-68 children in Canada have autism. Boys are five times more likely than girls to have the disorder.
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