I’m 12 years old and it’s cross-country day at school. Some distance behind everybody else, I struggle to breathe, perhaps because of my undiagnosed asthma. My PE teacher yells at me unsympathetically and I struggle to blink the tears out of my eyes. As I finally cross the finish line my sole focus is on hiding my shame as demeaning comments by my classmates go unchallenged. It’s fair to say PE was never my favourite lesson. Throughout my school career I frequently felt humil