«My autistic son was constantly teased and insulted»

The bullying began when her disabled son started at a mainstream school. For his mother*, there is only one word to describe what he had to endure at school at the hands of his classmates: mental cruelty. A field report.

My son is 12 years old and has early childhood high-functioning autism (HFA).1 He attended a special school for the first four years, but has been attending a mainstream school since the fifth grade and is supported by a school counsellor. He was never bullied at the special school and he felt comfortable, but he was underchallenged academically. The bullying started when my son joined the mainstream school. He was constantly teased and insulted. Discussions with the parents of the children in question didn't help. Everyone said almost the same thing: «They're children...», my son would have to learn to deal with it himself. Some parents were quite cold and came up with the cheeky suggestion of choosing a special school for my son. The bullies themselves claimed that they hadn't done anything.

The children took advantage of the disability

The teachers talked to his classmates and the class then wrote a letter of apology to him. But that only helped for a short time and then my son was bullied again. I would like to tell one story in more detail here. Autistic children like my son usually take statements literally and don't understand jokes or irony. The children quickly realised how they could exploit this. A classmate rammed a pen into my son's back and said that he had inserted a micro-camera into his body. That way he could be observed everywhere. My son can't stand anyone looking at him or watching him at all, it's part of his autism disorder. He then panics and gets scared to death.

«The bullies claimed they had done nothing»

Hearing from his classmates that he was now being watched everywhere by a micro-camera was horrifying for him! My son asked the youngest boy in the class to get the camera out of his back. The boy laughed at first, but then agreed. Once my son was sitting with this guy in the next room during class. The boy said that he could only remove the camera if he put his penis in my son's bum - but it had to happen straight away as long as there were two of them. They both stayed dressed and were in jeans, the guy pressed himself against my son through his clothes. Afterwards he said that the camera was now gone, but my son had now become a woman.

Report filed with the police

My son has experienced real mental cruelty. But he found the courage to tell me everything. I took him to the police and made a report. And it was only after this report and many clarifying conversations that my son was finally accepted and left in peace. I think the others realised that such abuse can have severe consequences. In any case, everything has now been sorted out and my son feels comfortable again. The school, the head teacher and the special needs teacher have helped us a lot. After the last incident, a school counsellor is also with my son during the break. In conclusion, I would like to say the following to parents and teachers: Explain to the children that there are also sick or disabled children in our society - whether you like it or not; and that disabled people also have the right to be accepted.
*The mother wishes to remain anonymous, the name is known to the editors.
Image: Gallery Stock

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This article is part of our online dossier on bullying and cyberbullying. Find out more about how bullying occurs and what you can do as a parent.

Read more:

  • Bullying: And everyone looks the other way. The main text of our major bullying dossier.
  • Autism: What does it mean for children? For the parents? What help is available? Browse through our large online dossier on autism now