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bullying at school

longman

The summer edition of Communication has an article on page 43 on bullying. I was rather shocked by this because it simply divided bullying into three main categories (physical, verbal and indirect) and then proceeded to offer advice for dealing with conventional bullying.

My perception of bullying where people on the spectrum are the victims is rather different from this. I wondered if other contributors felt the same way or disagreed.

In my perspective, people on the spectrum are usually bullied by people taking advantage of their vulnerabilities arising from autism - sensory overload, difficulty understanding social interaction and metaphorical or humorous remarks, special interests and manerisms that attract attention. I also perceive the bullying to involve a wider spectrum of individuals in a class, not just the usually identified bullies.

People on the spectrum may be seen as entertaining. Sensitivity to environment - sudden noise, people in close proximity, sudden movement, intimidatory atmosphere is enough to trigger considerable distress and possibly a meltdown. Other kids quickly realise that "pushing the right buttons" - mainipulating the vulnerabilities of people on the spectrum, could be managed as collective entertainment.

Being seen as different, not fitting in, having different interests, having unorthodox mannerisms, all make people on the spectrum more likely to be targeted. They may be hurt or disturbed by joking remarks or jibes that NT kids would recognise for what they were, but could cause great anxiety to someone on the spectrum.

I rather felt, from reading the Communication article, that it was as if people on the spectrum were just overly sensitive to conventional bullying and just needed to hear the conventional advice. But for someone with communication difficulties "fogging" and saying "No" can just add to the entertainment value as this would come over differently.

I was also concerned that after 50 years NAS seemed not to have grasped that bullying at school is one of the fundamental damaging experiences fior people on the spectrum, and this needs research, not platitudes.

Parents

  • Hi Einfallspinsel.  How to make people stronger to cope with this sort of bullying is something I wish I could address. The problem is I cannot get to grips with any substantive resources around which to confirm my own experiences.

    My view is partly informed by my own experiences of being bullied at school, when I didn't have any "excuse", being diagnosed many years later mid-fifties. But before and since diagnosis I have been a disability coordinator in a university, including helping people on the spectrum, and twenty years a lecturer. I've observed the ways a cohort of students picks on the oddball, whether identifiably AS or otherwise.

    My parents reckoned it was my fault. I must be doing something to attract attention. They tried to condition me out of flapping my hands or any other behaviours. I ended up trying to be as unnoticeable and invisible as possible, but it only meant for example that I walked with my hands pinned to my sides and an odd gait. The trouble is the efforts needed to avoid attention only create more oddity, because the one thing you cannot achieve is a behaviour pattern that conforms and integrates, because you cannot read those signals.

    If the reasons why young people on the spectrum get bullied were better understood, teachers would know what situations to look for. At the moment it all seems to be standard bullying advice. Unfortunately, to reiterate, the problem for the person with AS is integrating their behaviour. That's not easily achieved.

    At school it was perceived that I was over-sensitive to normal everyday ribbing and hi-jinks. My reactions were after all hopelessly excessive in response to what seemed very little stimulus. But my peers learned that it was very easy to wind me up doing little more than making sudden movements or loud noises and crowding in on me, when the teacher was out of sight, and then watching the often explosive outcome they had created.

    This really needs in depth research and a much greater exploration of what people on the spectrum have experienced. The danger is that people on the spectrum are seen as over-sensitive - it misses the point.

Reply

  • Hi Einfallspinsel.  How to make people stronger to cope with this sort of bullying is something I wish I could address. The problem is I cannot get to grips with any substantive resources around which to confirm my own experiences.

    My view is partly informed by my own experiences of being bullied at school, when I didn't have any "excuse", being diagnosed many years later mid-fifties. But before and since diagnosis I have been a disability coordinator in a university, including helping people on the spectrum, and twenty years a lecturer. I've observed the ways a cohort of students picks on the oddball, whether identifiably AS or otherwise.

    My parents reckoned it was my fault. I must be doing something to attract attention. They tried to condition me out of flapping my hands or any other behaviours. I ended up trying to be as unnoticeable and invisible as possible, but it only meant for example that I walked with my hands pinned to my sides and an odd gait. The trouble is the efforts needed to avoid attention only create more oddity, because the one thing you cannot achieve is a behaviour pattern that conforms and integrates, because you cannot read those signals.

    If the reasons why young people on the spectrum get bullied were better understood, teachers would know what situations to look for. At the moment it all seems to be standard bullying advice. Unfortunately, to reiterate, the problem for the person with AS is integrating their behaviour. That's not easily achieved.

    At school it was perceived that I was over-sensitive to normal everyday ribbing and hi-jinks. My reactions were after all hopelessly excessive in response to what seemed very little stimulus. But my peers learned that it was very easy to wind me up doing little more than making sudden movements or loud noises and crowding in on me, when the teacher was out of sight, and then watching the often explosive outcome they had created.

    This really needs in depth research and a much greater exploration of what people on the spectrum have experienced. The danger is that people on the spectrum are seen as over-sensitive - it misses the point.

Children
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