Session 8: Race, Age and Disability, 2
3rd Global Conference
Thursday 3rd November – Saturday 5th November 2011
Prague, Czech Republic
Bullying of Children and Young People with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: Prevalence, Risk and Protective Factors
Judith Hebron
University of Manchester, United Kingdom
This paper is a presentation of a doctoral investigation into prevalence, risk and protective factors associated with the bullying of children and young people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the UK. Bullying is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes for children, some of which are thought to continue into adulthood. While there is little research to date into bullying of children and young people with an ASD, existing studies and anecdotal evidence from parents, teachers and children suggest that this group may be particularly susceptible, due to the difficulties typical of ASDs. However, it is probable that there are other factors which contribute to the risk of a child being bullied at school.
A mixed method design has been used to explore this area, using data from the evaluation of the Achievement for All project (DfE, 2009). The data was collected from a range of sources, including teacher and parent report, as well as other contextual variables, with semi-structured interviews conducted for the qualitative strand. Initial findings indicate that children with an ASD are the second most bullied group with special educational needs in the UK, with parents reporting a much higher prevalence of bullying than teachers. Preliminary analyses suggest that age, gender, behaviour difficulties, positive relationships, attainment in English and levels of support in school are significant factors in predicting the likelihood of being a victim of bullying. Early findings will be presented, along with implications for the classroom and educational policy.
Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)
Women, Aging and Normative Bullying
Susan Kuntz and Carey Kaplan
Saint Michael’s College, Colchester, USA
Aging women are subject to endless–and, sadly, normative barrages of daily micro-oppressions that constitute an inescapable bullying climate of surveillance and social control, not least because much of the surveillance is internalized and, as far as we can tell, ineradicable. In this paper we argue from our specific environment and experience as aging female professors in a small, Roman Catholic college in the northeast United States and from there extend analogies to the larger society. We are aware that the American/European paradigm of aging is not global. One reason we hope to attend this conference is to expand our knowledge of cultural differences by lively exchange with the broad international presence your conferences attract.
Entwining our two disciplines–Literary Studies and Psychology–we examine issues of erasure, inclusion and exclusion, policing and self-policing; and specious humor directed at aging. Texts such as Margaret Laurence’s “The Stone Angel” and Doris Lessing’s “If the Old Could” and “Death of a Good Neighbor” provide templates for exploring the humiliation and degradation of aging; cognitive and social psychology informs our systemic analysis. Theoretically we look to Michel Foucault for mapping of external and internal surveillance and to Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva for discussion of linguistic multiplicity and complexity. These theorists aid us in investigating our own examined and unexamined complicity in our own oppression and the normative cruelties that affect aging women in our and other cultures.
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