Autism Society Working Groups Update: Bullying

August 16, 2012
By Rose

The Autism Society assembled educators, professionals, chapter leaders, self advocates and others of different backgrounds and experiences to address some of the most pressing issues facing those with autism. Working groups met at the Autism Society National Conference to focus on the topics of bullying, quality of life, employment, equal access to screening and early intervention; community collaboration and college programs for students with autism. We will keep you updated on how these groups progress in each issue of ASA-Net. This week, we share information about the group addressing bullying on a national scale.

Our group on bullying was a diverse group, and I was happy to see many aspects of bullying come to light. One group member’s background with state mental institutions brought valuable perspective that bullying of adults in residential/employment facilities that needs to be addressed. One Autism Society chapter leader brought up the bullying that parents of children with autism often face by school officials. Another chapter leader brought up the bullying that a person with autism may face in interactions with the police and within the justice system. One chapter leader brought up the need for more emphasis on healing after the bullying situation occurs. We also spoke about how some individuals on the spectrum may not even understand that they are being bullied.

As you can see, our initial meeting was to brainstorm issues and come up with some action steps.  An immediate idea we came up with was to incorporate bullying into a program that the Autism Society has already developed for training first responders called Safe and Sound.

I foresee us creating materials and tool kits to help people address bullying before, during and after incidences of bullying:

• Before: Prevention, educating our kids and others about autism and acceptance of those with autism.
• During: What are the laws when this happens? Who can individuals turn to? What is the process to address the bullying?
• After: The healing process.