It comes as no surprise to Don’t Leave Them Behind to learn that International research shows that children with disabilities are up to 3 times more likely to be bullied ,and up to 6 times more likely to experience violence or abuse than their peers.
With 28% of people surveyed by the National Disability Authority show that children with a disability autism shouldn’t be allowed to attend mainstream education we can see that this is a significant issue in Ireland that needs to addressed urgently .
As we discovered during this Pandemic many people with Autism, both children and Adults suffered aggressive bullying as a result of their difficulties dealing with the pandemic and the changes that this brought to their routines and day to day life.
This has resulted in significant Mental Health problems for many with ASD and it will take years to recover from the damage that this bullying has caused .
We are calling on the State and its funded bodies to step =up and start to deal with this Pandemic in Mental Health by providing increased supports for the victims of this bullying including psychological counselling to deal with the trauma of the bullying and the trauma caused by COVID 19 .