Surely it is well-established general rule that anyone with any and every form of disability or idiosyncrasy will stand out and be picked upon and bullied?

I don't think it is possible to disentangle (at least quantitatively) exactly why someone is bullied. But the symptoms of NDDs often result in socially idiosyncratic behaviours, which others pick up on. So many people are bullied because they are different, while it matters less why they are different.

Ingela Visuri Very true, it can be difficult to disentangle. I just wonder if there is research which, in a simple way, asks young people if they believe they have been bullied because they have some form of NDD or whether it was because of a different unrelated issue. Even this kind of self-reported perception could be an important issue here as it may impact upon things like mental health self-stigma for these young people.

I am not aware of any such studies, but I know that Tony Attwood writes about bullying and autism (for instance in Complete guide to Asperger's syndrome). Good luck!

Contrary to what could sometimes be expected, our experience indicates that in many cases the people who suffer the most bullying situations are those who need less support, that is, those who have fewer limitations in the school environment. This is especially relevant in the case of mild grade ASD. We have observed that people with greater limitations suffer less harassment situations, and vice versa. It seems that of all the disabilities the ASD is the one that presents the greatest risk of suffering bullying. At the same time, it can be pointed out that people with special educational needs present a risk pattern between 2 and 4 times higher than students who do not have such needs. Of outstanding way between the 11 and the 13 years. However, I fully agree with you that it is necessary to systematize these observations and provide sufficient empirical evidence.

Gabriel Martínez-Rico Thank you for this thoughtful response. That's really interesting to hear about! Can you signpost me to publications which relate to what you say above?

Dear Simon,

I send you a guide on School Harassment and ASD (open access). If you want to contact by email, I can send you other bibliographical references on the subject. My email is [email protected]

Rey, A. (2018). Acoso escolar y Trastorno del Espectro del Autismo (TEA). Guía de actuación para profesorado y familias Juana M. Hernández Rodríguez (2017) Madrid: Confederación Autismo España. Revista Española de Discapacidad (REDIS), 6(1), 327-329.

This is a most important question and a matter that most likely need to be looked into more. In ASD, with mindblindness and as often, not have had a good social training since early age, one will most likely become a victim of bullying as well as becoming a victim of incest. Any studies of the subject would be valuable. These studies will help to show the importance of learning how to understand social behavior early in life, which all children will benefit from

I wonder if the link below will be helpful... in a recent survey by Ditch the Label, 75% of autistic students and 70% of students with disabilities reported being bullied.

https://autisticandunapologetic.com/2018/11/10/the-reality-of-autism-bullying-and-autistic-hate-crimes/

Hope this helps

Thanks Debbie Livingston , that's a horrifying account of bullying for sure. I can see this topic is more and more complex as I delve deeper into it (as everything is!). There seem to be three (at least) clear groups -

(1) young people with a difficulty who are bullied, but the bullying has nothing to do with that difficulty;

(2) young people with a difficulty who are bullied, and the bullying is directly linked to their difficulty. So here I'd include people who, for example, have a diagnosis of ADHD and other kids explicitly reference the diagnosis when engaging in bullying behaviour. My hunch would be that this is least likely among younger kids but increases in prevalence as young people move into adolescence;

(3) young people with a difficulty who are bullied, and the bullying is indirectly linked to their difficulty. By this I mean that they are bullied because of their difficulty but not directly as per (2). For example, a young person may have symptoms typical of ASD or ADHD and be picked on because of those symptoms without the bully ever knowing that they are symptoms of a diagnosed (or diagnosable) difficulty. I get the impression from the link you sent above that the account of bullying that is given started in this category (picking on someone because they are different in obvious ways, without the aggressors understanding in any way what those differences mean) but then over time progressed onto being category (2).

Overall, both an interesting and important area for future research.

Thank you for sharing. This is another reason why it is so important to teach the individual themselves as well as the surrounding about this cognitive profile with its strengths and variations in thinking and perceptions, in order to become more accepting of all our variations.

Indeed there do appear to be significant differences between equality/diversity/inclusion policies and what happens in practice. I'd suggest that there is a need for participatory methods of involvement in how communities (schools, peers, employers, etc) create equality/diversity/inclusion in action - lived experiences because these principles are understood.

This is also a little mind blowing for adults to get their head round - how are we going to help our kids and young people? Difficulties can also take on flavours (or autism constellations - Caroline Hearst) associated with other complexities like gender: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10930654/Facebooks-71-gender-options-come-to-UK-users.html

I think it is useful to read these links :-

Article Autism Spectrum Disorder and School Bullying: Who is the Vic...

Article How are students on the autism spectrum affected by bullying...