Bullies Prey on Children with Autism

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Yeah its like I am constantly looking for whatever the threat is......even if there isn't one. I am pretty certain I have PTSD from one specific event but I kind of wonder if the bullying which I got from both teachers and students might have contributed to it as well. That does sound like something I should probably research I know I kind of think that way since I tend to analize everything in my mind... unfortunately that includes the anxiety provoking and paranoid thoughts as well.

Same here. I couldn't understand how the teacher could be so blind until I figured out it was intentional blindness. In my case, I found out years later that the teachers never intervened because they were all new and feared for their jobs. I never told my parents but they caught on once they saw I had repeatedly inflicted self-injury. Besides, being covered head to toe with bruises raises some alarm bells even if I bruise easily due to a blood clotting problem.

I'm Canadian but your last statement is SO true! We hear all the time how Canada is a multicultural, tolerant, welcoming country that accepts everyone for who they are and in Junior High they did... as long as you looked, thought and acted the same as everyone else. Check out one of John Taylor Gatto's books for a eye opening look into the REAL reason for public schools as thought I was the only person who could see it: inmate (er student) or guard (I mean teacher or parent).

I'm just happy I don't get bullied at school. I think I got bulled once during High School- but that was all.

Not to say I'm not bullied- Because I am- it's just at home by my family. And my parents are the one's who Blind (more so my mother- she's blind to my father verbally abusing her)
I don't think anybody realizes that that bullying is a form of abuse. I've always loved High school and I cried when I graduated.

I know I got bullied at school from say 5th grade to 7th grade every day or almost everyday and also got bullied the first two years in college (the last two years of college I was in a different school and I was liked, everybody in the dorm was like a brother and sister). I just remember the details one or two minor incidents in elementary school I have buried the rest. In college I had people take their cars and gun them at me before pulling away at the last second. I remember it happening twice. I did complain but got the look that said you are the crazy one and anymore complaining we throw you out of school. So I came close to not being here to post this.

I know the bullying was a "trait" that got me the diagnoses and has left me with some esteem issues. That is all I need to know. I feel there is no purpose in going under hypnoses or what ever and going back 4 and 5 decades and bringing out those memories at age 56.

That sucks.

I always loved Baltimore because it seems so nice, but there is discrimination all across the globe against Autistics

i couldnt get bullied at school because i was very developmentally delayed and so always had a mentor with me from ages 4 to 11. dont ask why i went to mainstream school for. but when i was age 11-19 i was at a special school and didnt get bullied there either. the average age to leave school was 16 but i had to stay behind another 3 years because i was developmentally delayed.

i got more bullied as a grown up. im bullied now at work, and a few people had got fired for it. i dont care that much, as long as they dont want to do anything physical. some immature co-workers of mine love to egg me on and see me get into a state.

my husband have adhd and was bullied on and off through school, but he did have some friends to back him up. sometimes his hyperactivity entertained the class. but he was bullied more by kids from other classes. also his dad left him and his mum when he was only 5 because he couldnt be bothered to bring up a hyperactive child with learning difficulties. this has always left my husband feeling a bit insecure about himself.

Here is how I see it:

Social Structure is a primative human concept, which we have grown out of. Adolescents, boys in particular, tend to want to be aggresive towards "lesser" males, that is, people lower on the social pyramid. One thing with their peers, though, is that if they pick on someone, and that person ends up asserting themselves as higher on the structure, the aggresorr is humiliated. Thats why autistic children are prime targets: we can't turn around and assert ourselves as higher on the pyramid because we don't take part in it.

We are social untouchables.

Sorry for the spelling errors, I'm hyped up on soda

Yes, that is about the size and shape of it. It's "The Monkey." That impulsive, instinctive part of peoples' brain that says, "Kill, destroy, the more competitors you take down, the more resources for you."

What anti-bullying programs don't get is this: EVERYONE has The Monkey. EVERYONE, EVERY DAY, has to choose to be The Human instead. You can't rule, regulate, or punish The Monkey out of existence-- you have to make it socially valuable to choose The Human instead.

This is what blows me away. That ONLY 46% of autistic kids are bullied. I have met very few of the 54% that have not been bullied. As a matter of fact I have met so few of them that I wonder some of the 54% who claimed not to be bullied were afraid to admit that they actually were.

The reason for that is is there maybe autistic kids that are able to pass off as NT in the social norms as well as some autistic kids who are psychically tought enough to kick you a$$ if you mess with them. Plus League_Girl was mentioning that it was taboo to pick on LFA kids.

I think it's at the point where you can't bully someone who can't defend themselves, but if someone can but doesn't, then you can bully them.

That brings to mind the Anti-Anti-Bullying people who say that bullies help teach kids to stand up for themselves

They did the same thing to me back when I was in school. The teachers told me that bullies help teach you to stand up for yourself. The thing was. I did stand up for myself. The problem was. I was all brains and no brawn. So the only way I could get back at my bullies was to use so called sneak attacks. The problem with sneak attacks is that you don't get the luxury or the benefit of standing in the face of your bullies and saying "That's what you get for doing this to me". And because I was not able to do that. It didn't help with stopping or making the bullying any less.

I got bullied pretty continuously from 3rd grade through 8th grade.

It only stopped when I got angry enough to stand up for myself.
I'm not physically intimidating, but I learned to use the deep well of insane rage locked inside me, and simply letting people see its depths is scary enough to get most people to back off.
I used that, and was never bulied again, even though I never had to raise a hand to anyone, all it took was a few harsh words and the look of murderous rage in my eyes, and they never bothered me after that.

Not that I'm proud of having such a monster inside me, and I really despise when it manages to break free or even gets near the surface, but I've found it inordinately useful in some circumstances over the years as a deterrant.

bullies never bothered me.

or maybe they did and i never noticed.

i mean, maybe they TRIED to but i never noticed.

This was not true when I was in school.

I think it's important here to point out that whatever autistic or ADHD children do, that they're not making anyone bully them. Bullying is a choice, it's not a thing that anyone is forced to do (and that convoluted monkey explanation later in the thread is rubbish too).

Thing is, we teach children how to treat other people not just by telling them but by example. Children need to be taught to not be violent, to not bully, to not harass. To not do these things.

I've seen posters here accept the above notion to the point of actually taking responsibility for having been bullied.

Never mind the (relatively few) posters who actually were bullies and make excuses for it.