The pages on bullying consist of my views on the subject. Others may share them, others may not.......
In life, there are several types of bullying - physical bullying, psychological bullying and verbal bullying. ALL types of bullying occur in all types of school's and areas, just as bullying is a problem which is rife in schools throughout Britain.
Bullying is not selective or restricted to one specific area or region, although with regards to dealing with it, and preventing it from occurring in the first place, or stopping it from happening again, often depends on how it is handled by the teachers, head teachers, and even school governors. It is their duty to keep a lookout for both the bully/bullies and the victim. It is now UK law that each and every school has to have an anti-bullying policy. Some schools reinforce this policy strongly and vigorously whereas others might merely have one because it is the requirements of the law, and therefore go through the motions, so to speak.
If you are the parent of someone with AS and you want them to be placed in mainstream education, check the prospective schools anti-bullying policies by asking outside sources, not just the school. Ensure that if your child has been diagnosed, that the support and provisions will be there for them before they start, and will be rigorously enforced at ALL times. This is much more important than the league tables, as they only measure academic performance, and are therefore rather narrow.
Whether at work or school, bullies and thugs have a very good idea of who makes a suitable victim and who doesn't. They may hate the person they are bullying. They may not, but if the person they are bullying is absent that week or leaves the school, they will quickly find someone else to bully and torment, and someone who they can bring their tyrannizing ways to.
One thing is definite. Their target is usually someone who is different or someone who they can get away with bullying. Their usual victims have general or specific learning or physical difficulties, someone with communication difficulties, someone who finds it hard to make friends or someone who is unpopular with their peers.
Bullies are not mad or insane. They know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. Like psychopaths (many of them will become one in later life), they believe they have a right to do what they want, when they want, to who they want.
In psychological terms, bullies often feel what is termed "inappropriate indignation", towards their victim. This is shown when their victim reports their bullying to an authority or body, and the bully blames or attacks them again for reporting their actions, and therefore, blames the victim for being bullied! This is warped, distorted and perverted thinking. Well, at least it is to me, but that is how bullies think. They blame the victim for being bullied! With bullies usually, logic goes out of the window. They do it because they enjoy it and because of the feelings of power they are given.
I would argue that bullying at any time in life is worse during the Secondary School years, but it occurs everywhere, in all stages of life. In Primary School occurs, but many children are, it seems, more accepting of differences or disabilities than they are from the ages of 11 to 16 or so. There are also many more children in Secondary School, where the atmosphere is more impersonal, and it is also harder to detect and notice bullying, as opposed to Primary School, where bullying will stand out due to less children being present. Also, children at Primary School age are less cunning and devious. By the time they have reached Secondary School, they often devise or learn ways to hide their bullying.
