Autistic girl, 10, takes own life after bullying as mum 'wishes she'd told me'

29 September 2023 , 10:38

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Brittany Tichenor holds up a photo of her daughter Izzy (Image: AP)

An autistic ten-year-old girl described as the "sweetest person" took her own life after being bullied at school.

Her heartbroken mum didn't realise how bad the bullying had gotten before Isabella Tichenor tragically passed away. Mum Brittany has spoken to Good Morning America about how she remembers her daughter two years on from her death on November 6, 2021.

Brittany said: "I just didn't know how bad it was. I think she made a temporary decision in a moment of hurt, and I'll never forget that." It was after the tragic death of the fifth grader, that the mum heard from other children how bad the bullying had gotten.

She added: "I knew part of it, and I kept calling the school. I kept calling the district. But I didn't know the severity of it," she said. "I told her, 'You can tell me anything,' and she normally did, but I kind of feel like she was trying to protect me. I just wish she had told me."

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Brittany Tichenor has been left devastated (AP)

Izzy was one of the few Black students at the local public elementary school in their home state of Utah. In August, Ms Tichenor and Davis School District announced a $2 million settlement over allegations that teachers and administrators had not stopped the reported harassment.

The lawsuit said that Izzy, the only Black student in her class, was bullied by students at North Salt Lake’s Foxboro Elementary School by classmates who called her the N-word, told her she stank and made fun of her for being autistic.

Bullying in schools is on the rise in recent years. A survey of 130,000 kids ages 9 to 18 found 40 per cent of respondents said they were bullied on school property in the past year. This was a rise of three per cent from the previous year.

Brittany joined by her sister Jasmine Rhodes, right, speaks about her daughter Izzy (AP)

In 2021, suicide was the second leading cause of death for children aged 10-14 and young adults ages 20-34 in the US, according to the CDC.

Birttany said she was in the process of moving Izzy to a new school when her daughter died. "I didn't want the next school she went to, to go and get bullied there," she said. "By the time I thought I found the perfect school, she had already taken her life. I can't help but blame myself because I wish I would have gotten to it sooner."

In the years since her daughter's death, Brittany has made it her mission to stop another parent from losing a child due to bullying or suicide. She launched a nonprofit organisation, Izzy's Village, that she described as a place for young people to find support for bullying and mental health struggles.

Brittany has now launched a charity to support those children with poor mental health (AP)

According to the CDC, nearly 40 per cent of high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and about 33 per cent of those who were not sure of their sexual identity experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year, compared to 22 per cent of heterosexual high school students.

Nearly 29 per cent of white high school students experienced bullying at school or electronically in the last year compared to about 19 per cent of Hispanic and 18 per cent of Black high school students.

Charlie Jones