one-A-N wrote:
Research shows that people with ASD are 3 times as likely to be bullied as their siblings. It also shows that about 2/3 of people with ASD report being bullied.
So not "almost every person" with ASD, just a substantial majority.
I wasn't bullied at school. Partly, I suspect, this is because our schools are streamed by ability. I was in all the top classes (and came first in a number of the subjects) so I was surrounded by bright, well-mannered fellow students who didn't bully anyone. I had credibility in that environment because of my academic record. And I didn't mix with students from the lower graded classes (I didn't know anyone in them). So it is possible that some bullying occurred there, but I didn't see it. Also, that was 40-50 years ago, when people might have been a little less aggressive towards other people.
Growing up, I only ever encountered bullying in a few brief, unusual situations - e.g. occasionally during one 3 day camp-out. I left one organisation (Scouting) because it was a bit prone to bullying, although I didn't feel especially singled out, just uncomfortable). But I was able to find another organisation that was better managed and it had no significant bullying that I can remember.
I think the same held true for me, and I was in high school less than 10 years ago. I was good at schoolwork; it came naturally to me. That meant that I was put into the advanced/honors classes, which meant that the other kids in those classes were bright and not usually the kind to use physical violence. The girls were also less likely to use conniving girl-bullying tactics. People were more likely to keep to themselves if they didn't know you, also.
However, I hated junior high school. There were fewer "honors" classes so other people were mixed in, and there were a lot of gossipy girls and rude boys. I feared speaking or doing something wrong. When I slipped and fell while walking to class (I'm very clumsy) I got rude mocking. The worst part was the bus, because I couldn't avoid it. Sometimes I would take the hour long walk instead, but mostly I got stuck riding the bus. There were plenty of times for teasing and I didn't know how to respond and didn't have the courage to protest, so I was an easy target.
At our bus stop there were some girls that I became bus stop friends with, and I even opened up and talked with them a little. But on the walk home, the junior high boys were awful. It was mostly just name calling and being vulgar. I got a used lollypop stick in my hair once. It made me sad. One good thing that came of the bus was finding a group of friends to hang out with for the rest of my time at the high school.
What I couldn't figure out, though, was why those friends were always putting each other down all the time. They thought it was funny, but I didn't enjoy any of it. I couldn't figure out how to do it well, either. Eventually they ended up leaving me out of the making-fun-of-each-other part of their conversations (which seemed to comprise the majority of the conversation).
I made it through the first part of high school okay, and I think part of that was my broad spectrum of knowledge, eloquence, morals, and probably my physical looks (I'm petite and not bad looking and I think it made my quirks more endearing).
24 May 2012, 8:01 am
