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They were targeted by a cruel TikTok challenge. How they responded is an example to us all.

These disability activists are who our kids should look up to as role models.

Lizzie Velasquez/Twitter, Melissa Blake/Twitter

Back in the summer of 2020, a cruel prank began circulating on TikTok that showed how the popular social media platform can be used in some of the oldest forms of bullying. Dubbed the #NewTeacherChallenge, parents shared cruel videos of them telling their kids that they have a new teacher, showing the kids the face of someone who is disabled or who has a facial deformity or disfigurement, and then filming the child's reaction.

If that sounds horrible, it's because it is.

The people whose faces were being used in this challenge have every right to be angry and hurt. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior, and no one would blame them if they colorfully told the whole internet to shove it.

But two of the targets in these challenges are well-known disability activists who somehow manage to always take the high road, serving as an example to the rest of us. Their ability to respond to people's basest behaviors with dignity and strength, calling out the cruelty with clear and calm eloquence, saying over and over again, "It is absolutely not okay to treat me or any other human being this way and here's why," is awe-inspiring. If you want a role model for your kids, look to these ladies.

Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare congenital disease called Marfanoid–progeroid–lipodystrophy syndrome, which prevents her from putting on weight, among other physical symptoms After being dubbed "The World's Ugliest Woman" at age 17, she became a popular of advocacy for people who are different, for anti-bullying, and for teaching empathy and compassion. She continues to be an ongoing target of horrible memes and jokes, and yet she continues to respond by teaching valuable lessons and showing her own kind heart with her motivational speaking.

She shared a video when the New Teacher Challenge first started surfacing, explaining how the prank was not okay:

— (@)

This week, she posted another video showing how not to teach your kids about empathy utilizing this challenge. Some parents might use it as a teaching opportunity, getting kids to see why their own reactions are unkind, but if the parent's own reaction to the reaction is to laugh, then kids can get confused and the lesson gets lost.

— (@)

Responses to Velasquez's videos have been largely positive, but of course she has also received even more cruel messages. And again, she reacts by stating that these people "need help figuring out how to channel their own anger/hate in a way that doesn't hurt someone else." (I would personally like to tell these people to shove it on her behalf, but I will try to follow her example.)

— (@)

Melissa Blake is another disability activist and writer who has been the subject of countless jokes, memes, and pranks on social media. She wrote an article for Refinery29 about her face being used as a prop for unkindness-as-entertainment in the New Teacher Challenge.

— (@)

One thing she pointed out was that the parents making these videos aren't just being cruel to her and others with disabilities, but also to their own children.

"I can't help but feel sorry for their children," she wrote. "Imagine your mom filming a vulnerable moment, one where you can't help but burst into tears, and they actually post it for the whole world to see. How is humiliating your child, or watching other children go through that, a source of amusement?"

She was also direct about the impact this cruel treatment has on her personally:

"I want to be clear: I am violated. Every single time. Each photo, taunt, and cruel word is a clear violation of my dignity and my worth as a human being. And every time these platforms fail to take action, they're sending the message that this bullying is okay. So many disabled people have become inured to our appearance being mocked. That's not something we should ever have to get used to."

Blake battles the trolls in a delightfully subversive way—by insisting she be seen in all her glory, refusing to hide away the way some tell her she should, and letting bullies know they will not win in her world.

— (@)

Not only should we be teaching our kids to understand and embrace that some people are going to look different or move differently or have different abilities, but we should also show our kids outstanding examples of strength, resilience, and respect they can look up to. These women fit that bill to a tee.

This article originally appeared on 8.31.20

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disability pride

How one teen went from bullied middle schooler to app inventor to world-renowned activist.

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Natalie Hampton's experience in middle school left her with painful memories she won't soon forget.

In seventh and eighth grade, she was bullied relentlessly. Often, she came home with multiple bruises and scars from the encounters.

"The worst incident was when a girl held scissors pointed at my throat saying that she felt a desperate urge to slit my throat," writes Natalie in an email. "I don’t know if my memories of that incident will ever fade."

But the bullying didn't stop when she went home at the end of the day. Thanks to social media, she was at the mercy of her attackers 24/7.

"I felt so vulnerable, voiceless, and worthless," she recalls.

As a result, she ate lunch alone everyday, and the lack of a friend base made everything she experienced so much worse.

My mom took this photo of me when I was being severely bullied at my previous school. My parents went in numerous times...
Posted by Sit With Us on Sunday, September 18, 2016

By ninth grade, Natalie was finally able to switch schools, which helped significantly. However, every time she saw a kid bullied or exiled, it hit her at her core.

So she started inviting these kids to sit with her at lunch.

"I would always invite anyone who was sitting alone to join my lunch table because I knew how awful they felt," Natalie explains. "I became so close to these kids and saw firsthand that this simple act of kindness made a huge difference in their lives."

In fact, one girl confided in Natalie telling her that, after joining Natalie at the lunch table, she overcame suicidal thoughts.

That's when Natalie realized how life-changing small friendship offerings like this could be. It inspired her to take action on a much larger scale.

Natalie turned to social media — the same place she was initially the target of cyberbullying — to help give kids a clearer path to a seat with friends a lunch table.

Natalie Hampton and her campaign. All photos via Natalie Hampton, used with permission.

With the help of a freelance coder, she started developing an app she ended up naming Sit With Us.

It has a super simple functionality: The app allows students to act as ambassadors and let kids know they're welcome to sit with them at lunch. On the other side, kids looking for a friendly table can find the list of "open lunches" in the app, which means anyone can join them.

By becoming a Sit With Us ambassador, a student pledges to welcome anyone and everyone who wants to join their table. It calls upon them to not only be more mindful of the bullying taking place in their school, but also to take action rather than just watch it happen.

"If people are more kind to each other at lunch, then they will be more kind inside the classroom and beyond," Natalie writes. "One small step like this can change the overall dynamic of a school community over time so that everyone feels welcome and included."

Shout out to @liv_carr @artsjaz @x_abbey_swim_x and friends for kicking off the year with #SitWithUs at their school! 🙌🏻🌟 We love seeing pics of our Ambassadors in action -- send us some! 💕#spreadkindness #inclusion
A post shared by Sit With Us (@sit.with.us) on Aug 28, 2017 at 11:59am PDT

Since its inception, the Sit With Us app has garnered over 100,000 users across eight countries and won the 2017 Appy Award for best nonprofit app.

According to Natalie, even adults are using it to coordinate lunches and find people to sit with at church.

Meanwhile, Natalie has become a major anti-bullying advocate, speaking at renowned conferences like TEDxTeen London, Girls Can Do, and Say No to Bullying. Natalie's also been honored with a number of accolades including the Outstanding Youth Delegate Award and the Copper Black Award, and she was recently named one of People Magazine's 25 Women Changing the World.

Natalie at TEDxTeen London.

And she also regularly speaks at schools around the world about the importance of kindness and inclusion.

She knows how bullying can affect students and wants to provide resources for how to cope. Now she's focusing on spreading the word and empowering more students to be leaders like her in the anti-bullying fight.

"I believe that every school has students like me who want to take a leadership role in making their schools more inclusive."

#Repost @csartssgv (@get_repost) ・・・ We spotted some CSArts-SGV students demonstrating postitive attitude and care for others. A student created a sign encouraging others sit with her during lunch! #wearecsarts. Way to go, Cal Arts SGV! #sitwithus #spreadkindness #endbullying
A post shared by Sit With Us (@sit.with.us) on Aug 17, 2017 at 7:35pm PDT

Natalie says when she goes to college, she plans to continue spreading her message any way she can. She hopes that one day, no kid will have to sit alone at lunch.

"I will visit schools in the area near my college," Natalie writes. "I want my project to continue to grow and help as many people as possible."

However, Natalie believes the key to solving the bullying epidemic lies with the students themselves. Studies have shown that student-led initiatives are far more successful at curtailing bullying than those started by adults. Imagine if all the "cool kids" at every school in America became Sit With Us ambassadors. They could likely eliminate the behavior in no time.

But even without the app, if kids realize they have the power to stop bullying simply by inviting those who're being left out to sit at their proverbial table, it could change everything.

When everyone's on board to make a change, kindness trumps intolerance, every day of the week.

Family

The moving reason a mom and daughter teamed up to tackle bullying in schools.

'So many kids are afraid to tell for fear it will get worse. I always tell them it won’t get better if they don’t ask for help.'

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When Morgan Guess was 8 years old, she began to be bullied mercilessly by another third grade girl.

Mary — what Morgan calls the girl to protect her identity — was new in school, but immediately started tormenting her. She'd pinch Morgan's neck, pull her hair, she'd even lead her around everywhere. It was like Mary had claimed Morgan as her personal pet.

And despite the obvious distress the situation was causing her, Morgan didn't tell anyone about her tormentor.

Morgan Guess. Photo courtesy of Susan Guess.

"I didn't tell anyone because I thought it would get worse," admits Morgan in an email.

However, faltering academic performance and a string of panic attacks and stomach spasms put her mom, Susan, on high alert.

"She was afraid and so was I," shares Susan. "Morgan had never experienced violence and she didn't know what to do with it."

Susan called the school, and together they came up with a plan that mainly consisted of keeping the two girls apart. Needless to say, it wasn't full-proof.

The school never addressed the issue outright, and as such, the plan just ended up isolating Morgan, and Mary still found ways to get to her. This sent Morgan down a depressive spiral for which she was prescribed antidepressants, all before reaching age 10.

When Morgan's doctor suggested she leave school, Morgan knew she had to come at the issue from a different direction.

Morgan wearing a T-Shirt from the Guess Anti-Bullying Foundation. Photo courtesy of Susan Guess.

"My parents told me pretty early on that bad things are going to happen and I could choose to ignore them, I could blame others, or I could choose to do something about it," writes Morgan.

So, together with her mom, Morgan decided to find a way to change how bullying is addressed in schools.

They did this by focusing on the overarching problem rather than a specific bully or school system, and that started with getting kids to open up about their bullying experiences. To get the ball rolling, they brought a few speakers to their town who are well-versed on the subject, including Jodee Blanco, author of "Please Stop Laughing at Us," and Lee Hirsch, director of the documentary "Bully."

Slowly but surely, kids began to feel comfortable sharing their stories. And the response lit a fire under mom and daughter.

Morgan Guess. Photo courtesy of Susan Guess.

"We saw kids stand up and talk about cutting, about not being heard, not being believed, and we knew we had to do more," writes Susan. "Morgan wasn't alone and these kids were waiting for someone to speak up, to stand up for them."

While Mary transferred to another school after third grade thereby ending Morgan's personal bullying crisis, she was now committed to protecting as many kids as possible from a similar experience.

Morgan and her mom knew the issue was much bigger than their small town of Paducah, Kentucky. That's why they began petitioning their governor to make a change.

Over the next three years, they worked on getting the state to appoint a statewide task force to study the effects of bullying and share best practices for coping with it. At the end of it, both Morgan and Susan served as members on it. Morgan was by far the youngest at just 11 years old.

Eventually the task force introduced the official Kentucky anti-bullying bill to the House of Representatives, and asked Morgan to give her personal testimony as support for it. The bill clearly defines bullying as any unwanted verbal, physical, or social behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance and is repeated or has the potential to be related. This makes it harder for bullying to go undetected. It passed the house with an overwhelming 39 votes to 1.

Morgan speaking on behalf of anti-bullying at a Commonwealth of Kentucky press conference. Photo courtesy of Susan Guess.

It was a pivotal experience for Morgan.

"I think she will run for office one day, and I think she will propose additional legislation," says Susan.

Until then, however, she's doing what she can in her hometown.

On the local front, mom and daughter have been spearheading a number of bold anti-bullying initiatives.

Every August, they run a Kindness Color Walk to remind the community the importance of being kind at the start of the school year.

Two participants in the Kindness Color Walk. Photo courtesy of Susan Guess.

In 2016, they got their community to write 12,000 letters of encouragement to kids in school. They also hosted a #bekindpaducah mural tagging event, which allowed people all over the world to write positive messages and tag anyone who might need them.

And today, Morgan's working on opening a mental health drop-in center for kids who need counseling.

It's no surprise, considering all of the above, that Morgan was named one of ten Hasbro Community Action Heroes, part of the company's BE FEARLESS BE KIND initiative to empower kids to have the empathy, compassion and courage to stand up for others and be inclusive throughout their lives. The award recognizes young people who are doing just that, and making a difference in their communities.

Morgan (center) with Hasbro Community Action Heroes Josh Kaplan (Left), and Zachary Rice (Right) in New York City. Photo courtesy of Hasbro.

Earlier this year, Morgan joined the nine other Hasbro Community Action Heroes in New York City where they developed a pledge to inspire others to “be fearless and kind.” Youth, parents and caring adults can now take that pledge and learn about ways to put their empathy into action as part of the YSA’s Kindness Rising campaign.

And Morgan's work is far from finished.

When she first started this, Kentucky led the nation in teen suicide attempts. She hopes their efforts have helped lower that number, but more specifically, she hopes they've helped give kids the courage to speak out.

Morgan at the #bekindpaducah mural event. Photo courtesy of Susan Guess.

"So many kids are afraid to tell for fear it will get worse," says Morgan, "I always tell them it won’t get better if they don’t ask for help."

No one knows that better than Morgan herself.

"We have to work together to make schools kinder places, but we also have to know our rights and we need to insist on safe and inclusive schools and communities," she explains.

No doubt Morgan will continue to advocate against bullying as she comes into adulthood, and her mother couldn't be prouder.

"We often talk about how when we push through our fears, there is something beautiful on the other side. My hope is that she will take risks and dig deep to find the courage, always, to stand up for someone in need"

Learn more about the Be Fearless Be Kind pledge here:

Family

Here's how Twitter is finally helping to stop rampant harassment on their site.

"We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years," said former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo in a leaked 2015 memo.

"It's no secret and the rest of the world talks about it every day," he continued. "We lose core user after core user by not addressing simple trolling issues that they face every day."

It was a surprising admission about one of the service's biggest flaws. On Twitter, sharing other users' posts as easy as a single touch, but that also creates the opportunity for regular people going about their day on Twitter to wind up the target of harassment from thousands of other users at a moment's notice.

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images.

Since the memo leaked, Twitter has been trying to solve some of the more obvious problems by adding a quality filter meant to weed out threatening messages from spam accounts and creating a path to account verification. Still, these steps weren't enough, and the torrent of abuse its users experience was hurting the company financially.

This week, Twitter announced a number of new tools meant to address the abuse problem, and they look like they might be pretty helpful.

(Trigger warning: Hate speech and transphobic slurs follow below.)

For one, they're expanding the mute feature so users can opt out of conversations and notifications including certain words. This is a big step forward since one of the bigger problems targets of harassment deal with is the aftermath of a tweet that's getting too much attention from the wrong crowd.

— (@)

More importantly, Twitter is clarifying its terms of service, making it easier for users to file a report, and providing training to support staff to ensure they're up to date on the latest policies. The hateful conduct policy bans abusive behavior targeting people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

What does online harassment look like, anyway? Here's some of what I get sent my way on a regular basis:

It's not especially fun, but while hurtful, it's usually not too bad.

Other times, though, the messages contain violent threats. For example (and this gets a little graphic):

The problem is that in many of these cases, there hasn't been anything a user could do to prevent these messages from coming.

You can block a single user, but once they've shared your tweet with everyone who follows them, chances are their followers will come after you. It's an infinite loop of blocking people. You can also report violent threats as abusive, but once Twitter goes through the process of reviewing the report, they often reply with a simple note saying that the tweets reported didn't violate their terms of service.

This is by no means limited to Twitter. Facebook has a similar problem with its reporting process, coming off as ineffective and sometimes arbitrary.

— (@)

It's all somewhat understandable. As businesses, Facebook and Twitter have to find a balance between protecting free and open speech and shielding users from harm. Within hours of the announcement of new anti-harassment tools, Twitter suspended a number of high-profile accounts known for engaging in targeted harassment — that's certainly a start.

With new technology changing our world all the time, it's important that we remember to treat one another as human beings. Anti-bullying efforts will play a crucial role in years to come.

Whether it's on Twitter, Facebook, or in virtual reality spaces, online privacy and harassment protection plays an important role in society. It's easy to forget that there is a real human being on the other end of these online conversations. It's easy to treat them as undeserving of respect. It's easy to lose empathy for the world.

It's harder to do the right thing, but that doesn't change that it is, in fact, the right thing.

Someone called me "four eyes" for the first time in middle school.

It didn't bother me enough to stop wearing my glasses, which I'd proudly worn since third grade — but those first bullying words stuck with me.

Yep, that's me and my beloved "four eyes" days! Image from the author, used with permission.

Middle school is a time when words start to matter a little bit more.

As teens try to shape their identities, insults can sting for a little longer. Peers' opinions seem to matter more. Teens want to be cool and unique, but they also want to fit in and belong.

That's why Amy Beth Gardner, a loving mom from Cleveland, Tennessee, squeezed out a tube of toothpaste for her daughter.

Huh? Let me explain.

Last week, Amy shared a story on Facebook about an interaction she had with her 11-year-old daughter, Breonna. First, Amy gave Breonna a tube of toothpaste and squirted it all out onto a plate. Then she asked her to put it back into the tube.

Breonna was understandably confused and frustrated. But the toothpaste was her mother's brilliant and beautiful metaphor for explaining that words matter. Once your words are out of your mouth, you can't just put them back in your mouth ... just like the toothpaste.

"My toothpaste was a mess and I went to clean it and started thinking about how, just like words once you have said them, you can't put toothpaste back in a tube," Amy said.

Here's Amy's original post:

My daughter starts middle school tomorrow. We've decorated her locker, bought new uniforms, even surprised her with a...
Posted by Amy Beth Gardner on Sunday, August 14, 2016

Here's the full text:

"My daughter starts middle school tomorrow. We've decorated her locker, bought new uniforms, even surprised her with a new backpack. But tonight just before bed, we did another pre-middle school task that is far more important than the others. I gave her a tube of toothpaste and asked her to squirt it out onto a plate. When she finished, I calmly asked her to put all the toothpaste back in the tube. She began exclaiming things like 'But I can't!' and 'It won't be like it was before!' I quietly waited for her to finish and then said the following:

'You will remember this plate of toothpaste for the rest of your life. Your words have the power of life or death. As you go into middle school, you are about to see just how much weight your words carry. You are going to have the opportunity to use your words to hurt, demean, slander and wound others. You are also going to have the opportunity to use your words to heal, encourage, inspire and love others. You will occasionally make the wrong choice; I can think of three times this week I have used my own words carelessly and caused harm. Just like this toothpaste, once the words leave your mouth, you can't take them back. Use your words carefully, Breonna. When others are misusing their words, guard your words. Make the choice every morning that life-giving words will come out of your mouth. Decide tonight that you are going to be a life-giver in middle school. Be known for your gentleness and compassion. Use your life to give life to a world that so desperately needs it. You will never, ever regret choosing kindness.'"

We all have a choice about whether to say something hurtful or hold it in — and that's what's important.

As Amy acknowledges in the post, everyone — including herself — can make the wrong choice sometimes and say something hurtful. We can either choose to use our words for good and make people feel better about themselves, or the other way around.

What Amy did is not only admirable, but also necessary.

Bullying is a major problem in schools, and it's important to teach kids and teens that their words have power.

Can you imagine if more parents used this clever metaphor to teach their kids about the weight of their words? That's a lot of wasted toothpaste, but a whole lot of spared feelings and goodness in the world too.

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Should toothbrushes be in the bathroom? Experts weigh in. - Upworthy ›

18 years ago, Monica Lewinsky went through hell. It inspired her to create these emojis.

Monica Lewinsky knows a thing or two about bullying.

Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images.

As the 22-year-old former White House intern at the center of Bill Clinton's most notorious sex scandal, Lewinsky endured a round of public humiliation that rivals any in recent history.

Diners watch Monica Lewinsky's interview with Barbara Walters in 1999. Photo by Tannen Maury/Getty Images.

Now, 18 years after the protracted political saga that upended her life, she's back on a mission to helping kids fight back against online bullying.

Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images.

...with emojis.

The emojis, which Lewinsky conceived with a friend, are designed to send a message.

According to Lewinsky, who wrote an op-ed for Vanity Fair introducing the project, the icons give smartphone users a simple, direct way to say, "I'm here for you, and I've got your back," to anyone they see being attacked online. The designs — hands reaching out on either a heart-shaped or round colored background — are intended to evoke solidarity.

"Support — whether it’s from friends or strangers — matters," Lewinsky wrote.

The emojis were developed in collaboration with Vodaphone and are currently available for free download on iOS devices.

Lewinsky recalls that support from friends, family, and strangers was critical for her when the shaming and mockery over her affair with Clinton became almost too much to bear.

Lewinsky in 1998. Photo by Timothy Clary/Getty Images.

"In 1998, there was quite a long period of time where the highlight of my day was going down the hall to the lobby to get the mail," Lewinsky said in a video piece that accompanies her article. "I received so many letters from strangers who were offering support in different ways, and that was really a sea of compassion and support that helped me survive that period."

Now she wants to make sure that kids who are going through hell online can receive the same support from those closest to them.

Calling out bullying is important. But for Lewinsky, allying with victims is even more crucial.

"Knowing you are not alone — is vital and can even save lives," Lewinsky wrote.

Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images.

Pretty great for a second act.

Can dogs fight against bullying? A lot of kids find relief through Marshall's familiar story.

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You might be surprised about what you can find in a rescue dog. There are remarkable dogs up for adoption in shelters nationwide who just need to find a home. Here's the story of one of them.

Meet Marshall.

All images and GIFs via Marshall The Miracle Dog/YouTube.

Marshall once had a lot stacked against him.

He was one of over 60 animals rescued in 2010 on an episode of Animal Planet's "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."

Out of all the animals, Marshall was in the worst shape. He'd suffered injuries so bad that his medical team didn't think he was going to make it.

But he did. Little by little, Marshall recovered, even learning to walk on three legs after his broken limb had to be amputated.

Marshall 's owner (center) and the vet who saved him (right).

Marshall earned a nickname "Marshall the Miracle Dog."

"(Veterinarians) started calling him a miracle dog because he just persevered and wouldn't quit," said Cyndi Willenbrock, who adopted Marshall from the Humane Society of Missouri.

Realizing children could relate to Marshall inspired his owner to share his story.

Cyndi knew Marshall's journey to overcome his troubled past could resonate with kids who struggled with problems in their own lives. She wrote a children's book about Marshall and used it as a way to talk to kids about courage and acceptance.

She turned this into a larger campaign, called "The Marshall Movement":

"The Marshall Movement serves to carry a universal message of acceptance, tolerance, and kindness. Our goal is to help children recognize, prevent, and speak up when experiencing or witnessing tough social issues such as bullying, peer pressure, abuse, or animal cruelty. The Marshall Movement, with the use of thought-provoking character building programs and activities, strives to provide children with the strength and path to find their own voice. We inspire them to be empowered."

Marshall was also trained as a therapy dog, making it easier to take him into schools to share his story. The training also helped Marshall cope with the anxiety left over from his trauma, and brought him into contact with lots of people looking to give him as much healing love and attention as he wanted to give them.

Marshall hard at work as a therapy dog.

Cyndi also encourages kids to volunteer with animals, or elsewhere, to help them cope with personal problems. In an interview with The Daily Republic, she put it like this:

"I always tell people if they're going through tough times to go volunteer. It's the same thing with animals," says Cyndi. "Having him trained as a therapy dog gave him confidence and exposed him to people in a really safe environment. It really showed him that he does have a purpose to serve. Everyone has a purpose and, more often than not, you find that while giving to others."

If that purpose is belly rubs, Marshall isn't complaining.

The pair now travels around the country to inspire children to be kind to one another and to "act with courage" to end bullying. They've visited more than 450 schools in 25 states and met more than 150,000 students.

Marshall's story is so compelling, it even inspired a Hollywood film about his life!

Hollywood caught wind of this amazing pup's journey and reached out to Cyndi and her husband about creating a film based on Marshall's journey.The movie released on November 16, 2014.

We need more Marshalls in the world.

Sadly, students live in a world that looks like this:

Nearly 1 in 3 students report being bullied during the school year
Students who experience bullying are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, and poor school adjustment
Students who bully others are at increased risk for substance use, academic problems, and violence later in adolescence and adulthood

But there are thousands of dogs that may be able to help.

Researchers have found that therapy dogs are great for providing emotional support, but also for teaching kids better ways to interact with one another.

Students can try out "pro-social" behaviors with them, learning to care for the dogs and receiving the dogs' love in return. Practicing commands that the dogs already know is also a great way to instill a sense of responsibility and accomplishment.

They can also help with pervasive issues like anxiety and social skills.

It would be awesome to see more rescued dogs like Marshall get the chance to give and receive the support they once never thought they'd have.

Could your very own Marshall be just a Petfinder search away? Considering adoption could not only save a precious pet's life, but could give untold benefits to you and your family... and maybe even the world — just like Marshall.

Indeed, who has saved whom?!

Watch this video to learn even more about Marshall and how his new life has helped him leave behind his past:

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