DETROIT – One in five children ages 12 to 18 will be bullied this year, and the majority of those victims will suffer in silence.
About 65 percent of all children who are bullied don't report it, fearing the taunting and abuse will only get worse if they tell someone. But one young woman who was bullied for years is hoping her story will help change that.
Body shape, sexual identity and race are just three reasons teenagers said they've been bullied. For Fadumo Osman, it was because of her religion.
"Growing up, I wasn't bullied until I reached my freshman year in high school," Osman said. "That's when I started wearing my head scarf."
Osman went to an ethnically diverse high school. She said she was totally unprepared for comments about her Muslim faith and what one classmate called her "complicated" name.
"I turned around and said, 'Excuse me?'" Osman said. "She said, 'You know what you heard. You guys shouldn't be here.'"
Aija Mayrock, 22, has heard that type of bullying before. She's a New York University social justice student, performer and best-selling author. It might be hard to imagine, but Mayrock said she was once a tomboyish child with a lisp, and she was taunted for the way she looked and sounded.
"When I was a freshman in high school, a girl I never met who went to my old school in New York dressed up as me for Halloween, and she posted it online and it went viral," Mayrock said. "It was my rock bottom."
That day, Mayrock said she decided she would use her voice and words to guide other teenagers. As a result, at age 19, she published "The Survival Guide to Bullying." In it, Mayrock advises children and teenagers to advocate hard for themselves.
"First off, off the bat, make a top-five list of the adults you trust," Mayrock said. "Parents, neighbors, teachers, coaches, guidance counselors -- whoever it is, go to those people and ask them for help."
Mayrock tells teens they need to be prepared to have multiple conversations, list all the details of the bullying and provide proof if possible. She advises teens to save texts or social media posts that demonstrate bullying.
Mayrock tells parents to watch for changes in eating or how children dress and behave, especially if they isolate themselves.
Osman said the bullying she endured ended when a friend told Osman's mother, who got school administrators involved.
"If a student comes up to you, or an issue arises, acknowledge their feelings and know they're real, and handle them," Osman said.
Mayrock self-published the guide, which was picked up and distributed by Scholastic Publishing when she was 19 years old. It's currently published in 15 foreign languages and available worldwide.