Terminally ill girl with alopecia left in tears after school teachers order her to take off wig.



A terminally-ill girl with alopecia was left in tears at school after teachers ordered her to remove her wig.

Ashanti Elliot Smith, aged 11, suffers from a rare ageing disease called Hutchinson Gilford Progeria and also has alopecia.

When she turned up for school in West Sussex in a bubblegum pink wig, she was told to take it off because it could encourage fellow pupils to dye their hair the same colour.

Her mother, Phoebe Smith, 29 said she was horrified at the school ordering her daughter to remove the hair piece.

She said: ‘She was devastated when they told her to take it off. Her little heart was broken, it’s disgusting.’


Ms Smith explained that the wig was donated by a friend as the family cannot afford human hair wigs.

‘It’s a pink wig, come on, other children would have understood.

‘I have only got a few years left with her so we want her to live it to the full’ said her mother.

Source : Click Me

I think the bright pink wig is inappropiate for school.

I agree. I,m sure with the little girl being so ill , she would be able to get one off nhs more suitable.

Perhaps they will all be encouraged to shave their heads now in protest

Doesn't this poor girl have enough to contend with without the petty minded people worrying what colour her hair is ? Bless her x

Poor girl ,, i feel it is too bright for school and the NHS should supply one for her,.

A note to the parents suggesting/requesting them to send her to school in a wig with a more "acceptable" colour might have been the right thing to do. NOT to humiliate the poor soul. Does she not have enough to contend with? If I were one of the parents, the teacher concerned would now have burst eardrums after our "discussion" at a range of one inch at a decibel range that shatter windows!

The handling of this situation was WRONG ! What ever happened to commonsense and compassion?

As said, the child should not have had to face such humiliation. The mother should have had some common sense if she didn't wish to put her daughter through such trauma, and I'm quite sure that child will already have a wig from NHS. What does she normally wear for school ?

While I agree that the poor girl shouldn't be humiliated, can't help wondering if this story has been twisted to give it a more sensational impact. Alternative scenario - girl goes to school in bright pink wig (which I do feel is inappropriate, and I'm SURE there would be help for her getting a more suitable one), teacher quietly, privately and sensitively suggests that it's not suitable for school, child reports back to mum who goes to the papers accusing the school of the over-reaction as reported, which in reality never actually happened. No way of knowing which version is true, but some of the family are obviously no saints either:
(from the same article quoted above)

Obviously this isn't the little girl's fault, but does make me wonder...