61% Of Autistic Children are Bullied at School in the United Kingdom, NoBullying Discovers Why
London, UK (PRWEB) September 10, 2014 -- Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) affects around half a million children in the United Kingdom so when the parents of 900 autistic children were interviewed and 61% of them said their children were being bullied because of their condition. It was time for NoBullying to highlight the epidemic of bullying children of autism in an article released today.
The survey, sponsored in 2009 by ASC Campaigner Anna Kennedy, also revealed that 73% of parents asked said schools either didn’t handle the situation at all or handled it poorly when it comes to bullying autistic children.
On a sadder note, the survey also revealed that 93% of those parents said that their children’s progress at school had been affected by the ongoing bullying. An astounding 89% said their children were basically terrified of the aspect of spending time with their schoolmates outside of school hours.
The same survey revealed that having a child with ASC or a special needs child in general puts a huge strain on the family and on relationships and marriages in particular. 65% of respondents said having a child with ASC put a great pressure on the marriage and 74% said it put negative pressure on all family members including siblings, not to mention the worry of sending an autistic child to school with the fear of bullying.
Anna Kennedy started the campaign to help ASC children back in 1999 by building her own school “Hillingdon Manor” for children diagnosed with ASC and Asperger syndrome. The reason being that she has two children, one with ASC and one with Asperger syndrome and she was denied by 26 special needs schools all over the UK so she took matters into her own hands and decided to provide quality education and support for children with ASC and Asperger syndrome.
Children with aspects related to Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) are faced with impaired ability to communicate, especially socially and demonstrate behaviors that are endlessly repeated and stereotypical but lack or oddity of social relationships is what is most likely to be noticed as a primary symptom.
The truth remains that parents are aware that bullying is an issue at some point in every child’s life. However, parents of special needs children have a very different situation on their hands when their children come in contact with bullying. Because of the vulnerable nature of special needs children or children with learning disabilities, they are often at higher risk to become the victims of bullying. More disturbing, is that because special needs children are more vulnerable and less likely to tattle on a bully, someone who is bullying a child with special needs may go to extremes before adults are even aware that bullying is taking place.
Disablist bullying is the act of being bullied because of a person’s disability. A child suffering from Autism,Asperger syndrome or any other disorder related to Autism Spectrum Condition is an easy target for bullies.
Ciaran Connolly, Co-Founder of NoBullying.com, said “Autistic children and special needs children need more love, acceptance and support not bullying. This is a wakeup call against the inhumane acts of bullying autistic children.”
He added that parents and teachers should make a point to educate the younger generations about the sad outcome of bullying online and offline. According to Connolly, it is quite imperative to press for more firm laws condemning all acts of bullying and harassment.
NoBullying.com features many pages dedicated to parents, teens, teachers, health professionals as well as posts related to cyber safety and the latest news about law making concerning curbing Bullying worldwide as well as inspirational Bullying Poems and famous Bullying Quotes.
The website regularly updates its bullying statistics and cyber bullying statistics as it is essential to understand how widespread the bullying epidemic is. It also regularly runs cyber bullying surveys and questionnaires to get recent updated statistics on everything related to cyberbullying.
He also added that anyone suffering from bullying in any form or way can always find advice and help on the NoBullying website – but if anyone is suffering from severe bullying or cyber bullying, the best thing is to talk to someone locally – a parent, teacher or local organization that has been set up to help with specialized councilors to deal with this topic
Ciaran Connolly, Treze Ltd, http://www.treze.co.uk, 0044-289-581-0610, [email protected]
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