Dale Platts, 13, suffered permanent hair loss, including his eyelashes and fingernails to a serious illness as an infant. To protect himself from bullying and sunburn, Dale has worn a baseball cap every day for two years-- until now.
The boy's secondary school in North Hykeham, Lincolnshire, UK, has prohibited him from wearing the hat because caps are against the school's dress code. Dale was warned that he would be taught in isolation if he insisted upon wearing his New York Yankees cap. As a compromise, the school offered to allow him to wear a wool beanie, but the teen complains that the beanie causes eczema and doesn't offer the same protection of his head and face as did his baseball cap.
Dale has had objects thrown at his head and has been verbally taunted by other children, and his mother, Kenina Platt, says the school, too, is now bullying Dale for his baldness: "He wears the hat for medical reasons - it's not a fashion statement," said Kenina. "Dale has to suffer at the hands of child bullies. Now the school itself is pressurising him and bullying him. He is too ashamed to take it off.... (the school) is punishing him for being bald."
