Bullying
Bullying is repeated or power-based harm between students, including physical, verbal, social, online, or identity-based harm. In neurodivergent and disabled students, bullying must be understood both as a risk they face when inclusion is weak and, sometimes, as a harm they may participate in after prolonged unmet needs, trauma, exclusion, or dysregulation. The answer is not blame without support or support without accountability; it is safety, repair, supervision, and real inclusion.
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PEI’s education minister just told you exactly how data suppression works
A motion passed unanimously in the PEI legislature this month, calling on the province to track student absences caused by bullying. Green MLA Karla Bernard brought it forward after years of families reporting that their children are staying home — and the system recording nothing about why. Education Minister Robin Croucher’s response is a masterclass in the…
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Meltdown monster: how exclusion makes bullying worse
I often think back to the school principal telling me that when kids see my son, they don’t see an autistic child, they just see a child being mean. When a disabled child melts down at school—after sensory overload, social stress, academic pressure, and chronic misattunement—schools rarely ask what led up to the crisis. Instead,…
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Bullying of disabled children: a human rights issue requiring accommodation
Bullying emerges when power differentials enable repeated harm, when one child or group systematically targets another through physical aggression, verbal degradation, social exclusion, or digital harassment. BC’s ERASE framework describes bullying as “a persistent pattern of unwelcome or aggressive behaviour intended to harm or humiliate a person”, language that obscures the particular vulnerability of disabled children…
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Autism and bullying in BC schools
Autistic and ADHD children face bullying at astonishing rates. Large-scale studies report that nearly half to two-thirds of autistic students have been bullied, with some surveys finding 44–67% victimized[1] – far above the ~20–40% typical rate in general populations. For example, one meta-analysis found 67% of autistic youth experienced some form of school bullying[1]. Youth with ADHD…