by Will_B on Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:34 pm
I've seen some terrible bullying of someone with severe Autism (if there is a scale), when I was in school. I had gone to school with this guy for 11 years, he first arrived at our school when we were very young. He was from somewhere in Africa, and had had to move here for safety reasons as his parents were ambassadors. Whether Autism was his only disability, I don't know, but he seemed to really struggle. The bullying wasn't as near as bad when we were younger, as it was when we were 16-18 years old. It was utterly disgusting seeing how people at this age were treating someone so bad. The teacher would leave class for a moment, and it would start. They would whisper his name, then pretend they didn't say anything. They would keep doing this until he exploded. they were provoking him to the extreme. It was so horrible, people my age at that time and up until we left school/sixth form, at the age of 18, people were still bullying him worse than ever before.
This guy was extremely smart and articulate, but his disabilities were destroying him because other people took advantage of them for bullying and to get a laugh with their 'mates'. And in our entire school life, nothing was ever done to stop it, I never saw any action to improve his life at school. He shouldn't have been there, he deserved somewhere much more suitable given his condition. His school life was utter hell.
What still makes me feel utterly pathetic is only once did I do anything to stop it, and that was nearing the end of our school life, and it was the same situation, tutor had left for a moment, and it started. I threatened this asshole picking on him, and what was interesting and also heartbreaking was that the guy with autism asked me to calm down and not attack this dick. I was too much of a coward and feared rejection by my 'peers' to stand up any time earlier, and this will continue to bother me for the rest of my life, I wish I had been stronger.
My point being, if there is a point to my wall of text, is that too many people are complete assholes. There isn't enough awareness within youth, something needs to be done to make them question the effects their ill-treatment is having on their victims, and I blame a combination of incompetence within parents and schools.