Brotherly bond

Ethan is practising to become a DJ and hopes to put the bullying behind him

Fourteen-year-old Ethan has a tough time helping care for his younger brother and his mother who have a form of dwarfism called skeletal dysplasia.

"The best thing about being smaller than everyone else is that you can fit down the back of the sofa, and it's handy for when you're playing hide and seek and things, because you can hide where everyone else can't," said 10-year-old Aidan.

Ethan's little brother Aidan has a genetic condition which means his bones did not develop properly, affecting his height and movement. He inherited it from his mother, Michelle, and it means Aidan often has to use a wheelchair.

Michelle said: "It affects all our joints and it's a curvature of the spine, which Aidan has had corrected, and also all the long bones are curved as well."

Aidan and Ethan, who are from Cambridge, have a unique relationship.

While their father Lee, who is a support worker for adults with disabilities, is at work, Ethan helps get Aidan dressed and takes him to school, as well as help his mother cook dinner and with housework.

Ethan and his father Lee both help look after his mother and brother

Ethan said: "Sometimes I get annoyed, but that's life and you just have to get on with it."

But sometimes helping his brother can cause friction between the pair.

Aidan said: "It can be a bit frustrating when I want to do something myself and Ethan comes in and helps.

"(But) Sometimes it can be good because you don't have to do everything when you can't sort of do it yourself."

“People at my old school used to take the Mick - like calling my mum a midget and oompa loompa”

Ethan, 14 Aidan's older brother

Ethan has found that the toughest thing to cope with was bullying, which has been so bad he has been forced to move schools.

"People at my old school used to take the Mick - like calling my mum a midget and oompa loompa," he said.

"I've found not to tell anyone at school. Over the years I've had quite a bit of bullying.

"In my old school, how it started was they'd ask why my mum was small and I'd tell them that she was born with a bone condition and they just thought it was funny."

At the height of the bullying, Ethan was walking home from a party with his mother when he was attacked in the street by a stranger.

"A boy just walked up to us and started shouting he then pushed me off my bike, and I hurt my knee and my hand, and he started hitting me and kicking me, asking me who I was.

"I didn't reply and he retaliated more. I managed to get aw