Tag: discrimination

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Bullied for Being Autistic: 7 Reasons Those with ASD Suffer High Rates of Bullying

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‘Want to know why people with ASD are bullied for being autistic? Here are all the answers you need to know, especially if you’re on the spectrum or have a loved one who is.

bullied for being autistic

Sadly, those on the Autism Spectrum suffer THE highest rates of bullying. What most people with someone with ASD in the family don’t understand is why their loved one gets bullied so much and so often.

In this post, you will learn the exact reasons people target those on the spectrum for bullying, persecution, and oppression so that you can easily and confidently call it out when you see it.

Once you learn all about these crucial details, you will be able to stand up for your loved one and call out any bully who dares to exploit them in any way.

This post is all about people who are bullied for being autistic. Moreover, it’s about the reasons bullies love to target those on the spectrum and how you can call this insidious and cowardly form of bullying.

Bullied for Being Autistic

Sadly, most people with autism are doomed to a life of bullying, abuse, and exploitation. As a result, they often live a lifetime of loneliness and isolation. Here’s why bullies love to target the autism community.

1. Those on the Autism spectrum aren’t able to read social cues.

This makes them easy targets for predators, particularly, bullies and abusers. When a person isn’t able to read social cues, it’s as if they’re walking blind.

Therefore, the victim may not know when they’re in danger. In other words, they may not be able to tell or to sense when someone is evil and means to hurt them.

This is because the victim on the Autism spectrum isn’t able to read facial expressions and body language. And when you aren’t able to read non-verbal communication, bullies can easily pick up on it.

As a result, bullies will take full advantage. For example, many people on the spectrum are lonely and long to make friends. In fact, they are desperate to have friends.

Bullies pick up on this desperation. Therefore, they will often pretend to be friends with the victim with autism. Moreover, while these bullies put on this fake act to trick the AS person into trusting them, they only mock and ridicule them in front of other people.

They do this to make a fool out of the person and humiliate them.

After this happens enough times, the person with ASD will isolate themselves. Why? Because they’ll grow afraid of relationships and friendships, thinking that other people just aren’t safe.

People who pretend to be friends with you to get close enough to hurt you can shatter your faith and trust in humanity. Therefore, you isolate yourself. You may even resign yourself to a life of isolation.

Therefore, we must teach those on the spectrum to read nonverbal communication, listen to their intuitions, and recognize evil people when they meet them. Again, these skills can be taught!

Let’s teach those with Autism Spectrum Disorder these skills!

This happens in the workplace too.

Adults with Autism often suffer social exclusion and are ostracized by their coworkers. Also, supervisors and managers may exploit them.

Again, being on the autism spectrum dooms many people to a sad and lonely life of bullying, abuse, and exploitation. As a result, they don’t really live, they only exist.

2. Bullied for Being Autistic:

People on the spectrum often Have Difficulty Asserting themselves properly.

In other words, when bullies provoke them,  one of two things usually happen. They either don’t stand up to them at all or they fly into a rage.

Not standing up for yourself can give others the impression that you’re a doormat. Moreover, people see that there are no consequences for their bullying behavior. Therefore, they think it’s okay.

On the other hand, flying into a rage can make the person with autism seem mentally unstable or dangerous. Therefore, this is another reason they’re more susceptible to bullying and abuse.

3. Those on the spectrum are known for having meltdowns.

Bullies may witness them having meltdowns and think it’s funny. As a result, bullies begin to see the victim with autism as a source of free entertainment.

Therefore, they may deliberately try to provoke the victim with autism and get them to react so that they can get their jollies.

Here’s another thing bullies may do. They  may also use the meltdown against their autistic victim. For instance, they may use it as confirmation of mental instability.

Moreover, bullies may also use the meltdown to make it look like the person with ASD started the altercation and make themselves look like the innocent victims.

And lastly, bullies will use the meltdowns as a distraction from their own bad behavior.

In other words, if the other person’s behavior is worse and over the top, then, who are you likely to look at? The bullies’ behavior or that of the person who’s flipping out because the bullies provoked them?

Sadly, people use those with autism as the perfect cover for their own abuse and bad behavior. I’ll do another post on this later.

4. Bullied for Being Autistic:

People on the spectrum often have poor eye-hand coordination.

In other words, those with autism often struggle with clumsiness. This is because they have poor depth perception and judgement of distance. Also, they usually have poor balance.

Therefore, bullies see them as easy targets for physical bullying. Add that to the meltdowns and rages those with autism are known to have and others only think that the bullies are the innocent victims when, in fact, the opposite is true!

This is what makes them easy targets for physical bullying.

5. Those with Autism often have trouble making eye contact.

Anytime someone has difficulty making eye contact, bullies automatically see this as a sign of intimidation and low self-esteem. Therefore, this is a hallmark of an easy target.

Poor eye contact signals fear and bullies thrive on their victims’ fear. Always remember that!

6. Most People with Autism are in the special Education Class at school.

Kids in sped classes get bullied terribly because most others presume them to be “ret4rded.” Those with autism are no exception.

Therefore, other students see anyone who is in the sped classes to be of lower social status. And bullies will bully them because of it.

7. Bullied for Being Autistic:

People with Autism are Different.

The dark side to human nature dictates that anyone who is different should be excluded from the social group. We know that they should be included and that we should accept those who are different.

However, bullies don’t think like we do and sadly, the majority of bystanders don’t either. People tend to gravitate toward and take care of those who are most like them. Therefore, it’s sad to say that those on the autism spectrum may never fit in with the neurotypical majority.

This alone makes them prime targets for bullying. Therefore, we need to be proactive in protecting them from bullies.

In conclusion:

Sadly, those in the autism community are the most vulnerable and least valued in most schools, companies, organizations, and communities. It’s a grim reality that we all need to be aware of.

Furthermore, they are, for the most part, defenseless. The heartbreaking truth is that nine times out of ten, the rest of society and even members of authority do not see people with autism as human beings.

Should it be any wonder bullies prey the most on sped students, those with autism, and anyone who is disabled? It’s because bullies are great big cowards. All too often, those with autism are unwilling or unable to defend themselves effectively.

Because students with autism are usually low on social intelligence, bullies can exploit them at will.

Bullied for Being Autistic:

Even teachers aren’t above bullying students on the spectrum.

I’ve witnessed, firsthand, a group of cliquey teachers laughing at and mocking sped students. And these people were supposed to be adults!

These cruel educators would look down their noses at these kids and openly ridicule them!Moreover, I also heard the mean-spirited comments.

The teachers remarked about how these kids would never find a job nor contribute anything to society. They also concluded that they would only be a drain on the taxpayers’ money once they got out of school.

I have to tell you. Just listening to those remarks made me sick to my stomach! How I wish I’d had the guts to stand up for those students when it happened!

However, I was only seventeen and a student myself at the time. I knew to keep my mouth shut because these bullies were teachers.

Every school and workplace has those types of teachers and managerial staff. Moreover, they are usually the ones who mistreat lunch ladies and janitors as well. It’s a crying shame!

This is why we need upstanders who aren’t afraid to stand up for these people. However, sadly, upstanders are only few and far between.

Therefore, we also must teach these victims how to stand up for themselves.

This post was all about those who are bullied for being autistic and why bullies do it so that we can call these bullies out when we see it happen.

Related posts you’ll enjoy:

1. Easy Targets for Bullies: 6 Groups of People Bullies Love to Target

2. Who are Usually the Victims of Bullying? 11 Traits of Bully Targets

3. Weaponizing Mental Health: 7 Reasons Bullies Label You Mentally Ill

4. Bullying by Teachers in School: 7 Steps to Protect Yourself

5. Bullying by Teachers: 15 Proven Signs a Teacher is Bullying You

Bullying and Confirmation Bias

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People will believe what they want to believe, and no amount of solid evidence will convince them if they refuse to believe it. Sadly, the only way confirmation bias has anything to do with truth is when the truth matches the belief.

If the truth doesn’t match the person’s beliefs, chances are strong that they’ll only deny it and look elsewhere for evidence that contradicts that truth.

Understand that bullies do the same when it comes to their targets. They seek to justify and explain away their cruelty and abuse and find arguments that support their opinions of the target. Bullies either don’t realize (or refuse to) that this creates problems.

Any time bullies disregard information that contradicts their beliefs, they either don’t realize they’re doing it, or they do know what they’re doing but don’t care.

Studio shot of playful disobedient adult son in red t-shirt, covering ears with index finger and saying lalala while wanting mom get mad, standing indifferent to argue, being impolite and childish.

For instance, bullies abuse the target, they get caught and are standing tall before a member of authority to answer for their abuse. So, the bullies tell the person in authority that there’s a good reason why they beat up the target and make up a cockamamie excuse for their brutality. They blame the target, saying that he instigated the fight by spreading a rumor that could cost them their reputations and they just had to teach him a lesson.

This justification has worked for them before, but this time is different. Instead of convincing the person in power that they had a good reason for bullying the target, and it backfires on them.

This is what confirmation bias is- it’s the tendency to recall, interpret, and favor information in a way that confirms a pre-existing belief.

Bullies commit this type of bias when they desperately search for evidence that supports their pre-existing beliefs of their targets. They will be selective in their stories of the target, either adding to or taking away from the truth, this is how they make their lies so convincing. They rarely tell straight up lies, they mostly take one tiny grain of truth and embellish it.

Bullies either blow it up, water it down, or heavily distort the truth. They are also good at (conveniently) taking things out of context. But understand this: all this is done deliberately. Bullies will distort anything to shoehorn it and make it fit their beliefs and agendas.

Bullies will even cherry-pick different parts of the truth, the parts that fit their beliefs, and then add their own spin to it to glue the pieces together to create their own version of the truth and make it sound believable. This is done so that it can fit the bullies’ existing beliefs.

Think about it. The media does this all the time. A witness may pull out their phone and film something terrible that is happening right before their eyes, they then send it to a news station to be broadcasted.

When the new media gets a hold of the film, they will edit out anything that doesn’t fit their beliefs or agenda and only show the bits and pieces of the film that best fits the story they wish to put out. If they get an audio recording, they will also edit it and create soundbites, only broadcasting fragments of the recording that best fits the story they want to tell the public.

It’s all the same.

Granted, each one of us looks at things from our own perspective, therefore, we all have a tiny bit of confirmation bias in us because everyone looks at the world differently.

However, bullies will take this to a whole different level, and they will twist, distort, embellish, and lie to get the answers they desire. And if it means denying solid evidence- any solid, concrete evidence which is in the target’s favor, then that is what they will do.

Understand that the reason bullies do this is to discredit their targets and skew the perspectives of any bystanders and authority members to create prejudicial and negative views of and attitudes about the target.

And to make it sound even more truthful and further cement the hatred of others against the target, they will repeat and repeat again the same false narrative a million times.

It’s so important that we understand the mindsets of bullies, their tactics, and their intentions behind such tactics. It’s also important that these tactics have names and that we know those names and how to describe them. Only then will we be better able to speak out about them and be our own advocates should we become targets of bullying.

With knowledge comes empowerment!

Bullying and Bias Go Hand in Hand

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Humans tend to be selective of those who are more like them because sameness brings comfort and security. We can choose who to date, who to be friends with, hang out with, and with whom to do business. We choose who we choose.

I can agree that we have the right to choose the people we associate with. What we don’t have the right to do is mistreat, dehumanize, and demonize the people we don’t choose. Although we may not like certain people, we should respect their right to human dignity and to exist. We should let them go on with their lives and pursue their happiness, goals, and dreams, rather than try to hold them back just because they’re different from us.

Though we may not like a person, we must know that that person is due the same human rights. And where we go wrong is when we regard anyone different from us, “the enemy,” solely on their differences and not because of any actions they’ve done against us.

In deeming someone an enemy without just cause, we force them to become our enemy by the abuse we commit against them. Our offense justifies their defense. We make them an adversary by provoking them to fight back and defend themselves.

Biases can cause a kind of tunnel vision in that we can’t see outside our comfort zones. Sameness and familiarity may make people more comfortable and give certainty and security, but, on the downside, it causes narrow-mindedness and short-sightedness. It produces blind spots, and the more biased we are, the more we miss, or rather, reject information that may broaden our horizons and make us better and more informed people. In short, it promotes blindness to the world around us.

It’s like living in a small town all your life and never venturing outside the city limits. There’s so much you miss because there’s a much bigger world outside that small town.

It’s the same with selecting the same types of people to be in your life- people who look like you, think like you and act like you. You cheat yourself out of meeting many people who are also great and exciting. You miss out on people you could learn from and who would otherwise be significant assets to your life- people who would otherwise be great friends and add love and positivity to your life.

After all, “variety is the spice of life.” Right?

On the other hand, when you base your biases only on character and open yourself up to people who are different from you, you open yourself up to a much wider world. You broaden your outlook, widen your vision, and open yourself up to a broader range of ideas that might add benefit to your life.

With knowledge comes empowerment.

Bullying and Rising Rates of Antisemitism

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The Jewish people and other minorities have been bullied worldwide, down through history, as have women. They’ve been intimidated by individuals, groups, corporations, schools, communities, and governments!

Recently, there has been an uptick of antisemitism from individuals, interest groups, certain celebrities, even government officials, such as Ilhan Omar and several others! They have also been attacked right here in America by Radical and Extremist Groups.

Understand that antisemitism, racism, and sexism are all forms of bullying because there is a clear-cut power imbalance. The evil committed against the Jewish people has been repetitious for so long!

People may disagree with me and may even get angry. But it is what it is, and I’m not going to hide it nor sugarcoat it.

Most bullies are bigots and racists because bullies are known to have hatred for anyone different from them in any way, although most of them would never admit it for fear of losing face. However, bullies must always have a target to degrade.

So, they prefer to bully someone safer to bully and not as legally protected, such as a person on the autism spectrum, who’s mentally ill, or an older person.

Understand that bullies despise differences from them in any way, and you can bet that most bullies are only closet racists and sexists. Still, because they choose to go the “lesser of two evils” route and be more politically correct to play it safe, they only bully those to whom they can do it and get away with it.

Understand that racism is wrong, no matter who it’s aimed at! Antisemitism is wrong! Hate is wrong!

Just because someone is different in race or skin color, in the religion they practice, or lives a different lifestyle, it gives no one the right to mistreat them!

Eliminate the hate!