Thoughts on Bullying and Disabilities

In 1970, only one in every five children with disabilities received a public education. Landmark court cases such as PARC v. Pennsylvania (1971), established that the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause required that students with disabilities have the same opportunity to receive a free and appropriate public education as students without disabilities and that, wherever possible, placement in a regular public school class should be the preference. 

Both Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, created both a legal and funding supports to help ensure that students with disabilities would access the right to a "free and appropriate public education" in the "least restrictive environment."

Because of this, many more students with disabilities began to attend and be educated in general education schools and classrooms, allowing even more interactions with students without disabilities.

Research has shown that students with disabilities benefit from being included in the same school settings as their non-disabled peers and that segregated programs fail to demonstrate greater effectiveness. Research also suggests that students without disabilities may also benefit from inclusion and that, when properly implemented, inclusion of students with disabilities does not negatively impact student tests scores, grades, the amount of allocated and engaged instructional time or the rate of interruption to planned activities.

While the right policy and legal decision, the increased inclusion of students with disabilities, also requires additional efforts to ensure welcoming school environments for students with disabilities. 

Studies show that students with disabilities (both visible, and invisible) are subject to  bullying more than non-disabled peers. Students with disabilities are more likely to face peer rejection, a significant risk factor for victimization. Many students with disabilities have significant social skills challenges, either as a core trait of their disability or as a result of social isolation due to segregated environments and/or peer rejection. Such students may be at particular risk for bullying and victimization. 

(Information obtained from: A Briefing Paper from the National Council on Disability, 2011-Authors: Dr. Jonathan Young, Ari Ne'eman, Sara Gelser)

What is bullying?

Bullying can be characterized by an imbalance of power, physical power, or social power. It involves intentional, repeated, and hurtful acts.

Bullying can basically be classified into two categories: 

Direct bullying, and indirect bullying (aka- social aggression).

I’d like to look at the less physical, but more common, act of bullying, social aggression, as I believe that, although more subtle, the damaging and lasting effects may not be recognized fully by all that engage in it. For example, children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum are bullied more often than their typical peers. They have more trouble understanding social cues, sensory issues, and impulse issues, leading to targeting for teasing, jokes, rejection, and social isolation. Social anxiety, and low self-esteem, including from being bullied, can lead to the victim becoming the bully.

Social aggression, or indirect bullying, is characterized by threatening the victim into social isolation. 

This social isolation is achieved through a wide variety of techniques, including:

• Exclusion from activities
• Exclusion from social situations
• Public shunning
• Bullying other people who wish to socialize with the victim 
• Spreading gossip/false gossip, lies, 
• Spreading rumors/false rumors
• Staring, giggling, mocking, 
• Laughing at the person
• Laughing at the victim's clothes and other significant markers (including the victim's race, religion, disability, sex, or sexual preference, etc.). 

Bullying can also come from teachers and the school system itself: There is an inherent power difference in the system that can easily lead to subtle abuse, humiliation, or exclusion — even while maintaining commitments to anti-bullying policies. 

Damaging effects of bullying?

According to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE, 2010) includes:

• Lowered academic achievement and aspirations
• Increased anxiety
• Loss of self-esteem and confidence, 
• Depression and post-traumatic stress
• Deterioration in physical health
• Self-harm and suicidal thinking, suicide
• Feelings of alienation
• Absenteeism and other negative impacts, both educational and health related.

How to Address Bullying?

Establish school-wide: 

1. Equity/diversity/disability programs
2. Conflict resolution/peer mediation/anti-bullying programs
3. Social skills/self-advocacy training

*A Final Thought on the Power of Empathy... Empathy means being with people in their vulnerabilities. We move towards empathy when we are willing to tell our stories even though we feel vulnerable and afraid. We move towards empathy when we are willing to listen and relate to the stories of others. Empathy moves us towards making connections and building meaningful relationships. Empathy is the common thread in bullying prevention for bullies, targets, and bystanders. (Rebekah, Heinrichs, 2003)