Presenter and model Amy Willerton has appeared on This Morning to speak out about the tragic bullying her autistic brother receives, declaring ‘we defend him until death’.
Amy’s brother Ross suffers with mosaicism, which she explains makes him ‘mentally young’, and autism.
The former Miss Universe Great Britain winner spoke about her work to raise awareness for autism and opened up to Phil and Sarah about a saddening story in which a mother stopped her children playing with Ross because of his disability.
‘Me and my brother were playing in a park and my brother will randomly go up to strangers and start talking to them.
‘He went up to some kids and their mother dragged her son away from him and said, “Don’t play with that child, he’s got a disease”.’
The Jump star continued, ‘It’s not a disease. With autism, their brains are wired differently, you can’t catch anything.’
Amy spoke of how she takes some comfort in the fact that because Ross doesn’t understand everything that is said around him, he is shielded from many of the hurtful comments about his condition.
‘I’m so grateful that Ross is unaware that there is something wrong with him.
‘If someone made a comment he wouldn’t acknowledge it, because he wouldn’t understand.’
As an older sister, Amy made it clear how much her brother means to her and the lengths she would go to defend him.
‘As a family, we will defend him until death because he is the most innocent of souls.
‘People who bully someone who can’t defend themselves, that is the absolute worst.’
The TV personality also reflected on why bullies tend to make negative comments, revealing that she herself has been known to put others down when she feels insecure.
‘If I ever make a negative comment about anyone, it’s either because I’m jealous or because I’m feeling bad about myself.’
Amy’s fans were keen to support her on Twitter, congratulating her on doing such positive work for autism awareness.
One follower tweeted, ‘great stuff on this morning with your brothers autism and making people more aware and to accept that people with it are ‘normal”.
Another said, ‘Thank you for speaking out on behalf of all autistic people it means a lot to people like me who are autistic and was bullied so thank u😘xx’.
A third fan thanked Amy for shining a light on autism, ‘As someone who is Autistic, thank you for the work you are doing, and I hope your brother get’s the support he needs.’
