BULLYING TEENS WITH DISABILITIES

Old Firehouse Teen Center

Women with Disabilities Over two thirds of women with disabilities have

been sexually or physically abused as children. The more caregivers a girl with disabilities has,

the more likely they are to experience abuse. People don’t always believe girls with disabilities

when they complain about being abused. Girls feel scared and worried after being abused. They have limited sex education, so if

something happens to them, they may not realize it’s abuse.

These girls might not know who to talk to or what to do if this violence occurs.

Most Common Places for Abuse to Happen

Home School Group Homes Taxi’s Buses Shelters ANYWHERE

Who Abuses?

Relatives Family Members Caregivers Teachers Doctors Friends Neighbors ANYONE

When Does Abuse Happen?

Anytime

One woman said, “Scariest when alone at night or when the person abusing is someone you know and love.”

How Does it Affect These Women?

Feel shame Guilty Depression Headaches Develop eating disorders Trouble knowing who to trust Difficulty concentrating Drink alcohol Use drugs

Prevent Violence from Happening to You

Trust your instincts if you feel uncomfortable

Say no very assertively Talk to those who you can trust Leave the situation if possible Take a self-defense course Know where to call for help Have support from friends

Factors that Increase the Risk of Being Bullied

Low frustration tolerance: Teens standing out in social situations

Social skill challenges: Difficulties in social communication can lead to rejection

Motor difficulties: Teens are made fun of because they are not able to perform certain motor oriented tasks

Assistive devices: Teens who do not use them/know what they are, can view them as weird

Forms of Bullying Unique for Teens with Special Needs

Manipulative: Controlled by another student

Conditional: Mistaken friendship consisting of bullying behaviors

Exploitative: Features of teen’s condition used to bully

Bullying

Bullying can be a very serious problem Bullies have serious personality problems

Take pride in picking on others If witnessing it, separate the people involved Talk to the victim/s

Ask them what is going on Make sure they are OK Ask about details (their feelings, length of time it’s been

happening) If you notice someone being a bully, try to stop it from

occurring Talk to the individual and ask why they are acting that way Ask them what is going on at that time in their own lives If it gets really serious, call the police

Cyber Bullying When young people threaten or harass

other teens or children using the internet or cell phones.

It’s hard to get away from it Teens start to feel peer pressure from

other teens 2 types of cyber bullying

Direct attacks (messages sent to the teens directly)

Cyber bullying by proxy (using others to cyber bully a victim)

Cyber Bullying

Facts from http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying 43% of kids have been bullied online. 1 in 4

has had it happen twice 70% of students report seeing bullying online Cell phones are the most common medium for

cyber bullying 90% of teens who have seen social-media

bullying have ignored it and 84% who have seen teens bullying, tell the bullies to stop

1 in 10 victims will tell someone they trust about it

Cyber Bullying

Girls are twice as likely to be victims and perpetrators

75% of kids have visited a website making fun of other teens

58% of kids said that someone has said mean or hurtful things to them

Victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider committing suicide

Preventing Cyber Bullying Instill etiquette on the internet to teens

as early as possible Better to educate the teens at a younger

age, so that they don’t give into peer pressure when they’re older and involved in the social media world

Educating the teens about consequences of bullying (losing their accounts, less cell phone privileges)

Teaching teens to respect people and take a stand against bullying

References http://dawn.thot.net/safe.html http://gse.buffalo.edu/gsefiles/documents/alberti/Special%20Needs%20Youth%20and%20Bullying%20-

%209.25.12.pdf http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying http://www.endcyberbullying.org/prevention/prevention-for-educators/