Let’s agree that all bullying is awful. But when the people getting bullied are special needs kids or kids with disabilities, it is especially bad. What do you think can stop people from bullying special needs people?
Bullying is different from just being mean. For something to be bullying, three things have to happen. Harm is caused, repeated, and comes from a power imbalance situation. It’s sad anytime a student is mean to a special needs kid, but when these three things are all happening, that needs to stop right away!
Having a disability and being a disabled person can be so lonely at school and at home. I am junior, and over my years of school, people have been mean to me and have called me names that really hurt my feelings. I have even been laughed at. You have to think how you would feel if that happened to you. I know that I’m different than other people, I don’t need someone to tell me that.
It’s hard to be at a school where I get made fun of because people want to bully the small person, and it hurts to be the disabled person that girls laugh at and with people who call people with special needs mean names.
I just wish we could all be normal. I wish that I didn’t have a disability. I do, though. So, I wish I lived in a world where people would be nicer to people who are different. I wish people would not be afraid to sit by me at lunch. I wish people would not be afraid to say hi and shake my hand. That would help me know that I am accepted at this school. I also wish that people could understand me more and just listen to me! I love to talk about old tv shows and classic musicians like Elvis. I’d love to tell you about how great of a person I am.
We can make our school a better place if people don’t pick on people with disabilities, and if they go even further by really getting to know people who are different than they are.
