Terminally Ill Little Girl Forced To Remove Pink Wig In Class Admits She Was 'Embarrassed' By Teacher

A terminally ill little girl has been enjoying an outpouring of support after it was revealed that she was humiliated by her school teachers for wearing a pink wig in class.

Ashanti Elliot Smith, 11, suffers from a rare condition called Hutchinson Gildford Progeria, which causes alopecia (hair loss). She wears a brightly coloured wig to make herself 'feel pretty', but was told to remove it because it broke the school dress code.

She said: "I woke up that day and said to my mummy that I wanted to feel pretty in my pink wig.

"I can't wear bows or make up like the other girls, but wearing my wig makes me happy and smiling.

"When the teacher made me take it off, I was very upset and sad. Everybody was saying how nice it was.

"I don't understand why I had to take off. I felt like I was being picked on and it made me embarrassed and sad."

Tragically Ashanti is not expected to live past 16 and is one of only two people in the country who suffers from the debilitating rapid ageing condition that has left her trapped inside the body of a pensioner.

She wanted to start wearing a wig to ''lift her spirits'', make her feel pretty and fit in with the other girls.

But her teacher told her to remove the pink wig - because it was the wrong colour and the school was worried it might ''encourage'' other pupils at Oakmeeds Community College, in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, to dye their hair too.

Angry mum Phoebe Smith, 29, said: "It's an absolute disgrace. She was completely devastated when the teacher told her to take the wig off.

"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 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.

"They all know that Ashanti isn't very well sometimes, but that won't make them want to dye their hair."

Phoebe added: "She was so proud of her hair but this has really knocked her for six. She didn't want to go to school the next day.

"The school told me it's because they did not want other children to dye their hair pink because it was different.

"That's ridiculous. Ashanti is different to the other children at the school. None of them have a terminal illness.

"You can't say it's not fair on the other children that Ashanti can wear a wig, because otherwise it's not fair on Ashanti that the other children don't have a terminal illness.

"I don't have anywhere near as many days left with my daughter as I would want, so I am going to do my absolute best to make sure she is as happy as possible, every single day.

"She should be allowed to wear whatever colour wig she wants."

The incident is reported to have happened last Thursday at Oakmeeds Community College, a secondary school she started at in September, but neither the school nor West Sussex County Council have commented on the matter.