In recent years, there has become an increasing awareness of school violence underscored by student suicide such as in the case of Jeffrey Johnston. As the result of this tragedy and his mother’s advocacy on this issue, the State of Florida passed legislation in 2008 mandating that public schools develop policies and procedures concerning student harassment and violence. There is limited information which presents formal data about school violence related to students with disabilities. There is, however, a consensus within the educational field that students with disabilities have a greater likelihood of being bullied than their nondisabled peers. The question is why?
The dynamics of bullying indicate that the aggressor has difficulty with anger management and often comes from a family in which parents are distant, inconsistent in their disciplining and use physical violence as a primary management strategy. Children growing up in these homes may also witness acts of abuse between their parents and/or other children. Bullying is an act of aggression which creates an imbalance of power and control. The bully is a student who demonstrates repetitive aggressive behavior which is targeted towards a specific person over a long period of time. Given the social dynamics of adolescents who are struggling to find their own identities and to be accepted by their peers, many students become observers of bullying. There are serious repercussions for standing up to a bully with the possibilities ranging from exposure to violence to social ridicule from other students.
The student who is the victim becomes an outcast of the group and because he is unpopular, other students do not want to associate with him or her. As a result, when left unchecked, the bully has a clear field of operational control. It takes a great deal of courage for anyone to stand up to a bully, particularly the victim. Students with disabilities may have problems expressing their thoughts, feelings and fears. They are usually not as articulate verbally as their typical peers. They may also be unaware and therefore not realize the potential danger in specific situations when they are being teased, harassed, or encouraged to do inappropriate things. The situation is even worse for children with cognitive deficits and/or physical disabilities because they are perceived as being “weak and limited.” Children with disabilities often have low self-esteem and poor social skills. They are also not accepted within social peer groups and are not perceived as being popular. The result is that students with disabilities do not have friends or a social group inclined to stand up for him and/or be supportive emotionally. So bullying can go on for a very long period of time unless it is reported by another student and/or identified by an adult. The child who is victimized tends to withdraw and remain silent because of a sense of embarrassment and/or shame. For a child with a disability, the language deficits may not provide him with the skills to describe what is happening to him.
Schools need to develop not only policies and procedures concerning student harassment but social skills programs for students with disabilities specifically designed to teach them to protect themselves from violence. Bullying and student harassment can only be decreased in schools when administrators and parents provide school-wide character education programming in which there are clear rules concerning appropriate social behavior. Typical students must be taught not only about identifying harassment when it occurs but also how to handle it when they witness these incidents. Finally, students must understand how debilitating harassment can be over time. Understanding the experience of the victim is a critical part of any healing process.
Educators and parents must teach students with disabilities to report any situation which makes them uncomfortable. Children must be trained to recognize when they are being teased and harassed, and they must be provided with a supportive network to ensure that there are no ongoing consequences to the victim. When children cannot protect themselves, parents must become directly involved to ensure the safety of their children in school. Some statistics indicate that approximately 160,000 students in the United States miss school every day because of harassment by their peers. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2003), approximately 25% of elementary and 40% of middle school students report being bullied at least once a week. For students with disabilities, we have no statistics at all.