The stories behind the bullying of students with Asperger's: "They hold on until they explode"

Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) still does not understand very well what could have happened at the IES Elena García Armada. Last week, a 3rd year ESO student who had never caused trouble took two knives out of his backpack and attacked classmates and teachers.. The institute insisted that there were never signs of bullying, although, after the stabbing, the students acknowledged mockery and insults in the days before.. After the attack of anger, the detainee recognized that he could not take it anymore.. Now, the Asperger's association to which he belonged comes to his defense to ask for greater awareness and the updating of protocols to avoid cases of this type..

“People with Asperger's do not usually ask for help,” says Rocío Garrido, psychologist from the Asperger TEA Jerez association.. In therapies, the entity constantly asks if any situation has bothered patients to detect possible bullying.. Although it occurs in many cases, it is common for them to have difficulties verbalizing it, as well as, in general, to describe situations.. The detained minor only stated that his class was “a jungle”, but he had felt harassed for two years. After learning the news, an attempt was made to hide their diagnosis so as not to stigmatize the Asperger's group, but the association has decided to provide several stories that reflect the day-to-day life of these patients, their peers and their difficulties in the school context..

“They are very long-suffering and wait for everything to happen, but it doesn't happen.”. And there comes a time when they explode,” says Ana, mother of a teenager from a high school in Jerez.. Her daughter, diagnosed with Asperger's a year and a half ago, also exploded: she defended herself by throwing a table at a classmate, a reaction that also surprised her school.. At 15 years old, he suffered continuous self-harm and several suicide attempts.. Shy since she was little, Asperger's, combined with teasing about her physical condition, led to anorexia that led her to be hospitalized..

The young woman refused to eat and constantly revealed her suicidal intentions.. “We spent sleepless nights knowing that he wanted to take his life,” says the mother. Tried it several times. After the parents' notice, the institute opened two bullying protocols that were closed, like most. In the 2021-2022 academic year, Andalusia opened 1,367 files and bullying was only found in 140, 10% of the total. “If the school says there is no, there is no. And it cannot depend on the center alone to determine if there is harassment,” says this mother..

For teachers, it is difficult to manage certain conflicts. “A person with Asperger's does not understand jokes and what is not important to anyone can be an insult to them,” the association states, pointing to a “lack of sensitivity” in the educational context, both on the part of teachers and students. Few understand the behaviors of these adolescents, “what happens when they are rejected or are not taken into account”. “Teachers need to detect behaviors, know what is behind each complaint. “Sometimes they communicate one conflict out of every 100 they have, and perhaps we have to be attentive and open the protocol first,” adds psychologist Rocío Garrido..

María Jesús even left her job to be with her son and watch from the patio fence. He claims to have seen with his own eyes how they attacked him even though he had an open harassment protocol. The minor is 10 years old and, in his case, everything got worse when he admitted to his classmates that he had Asperger's.. It is one of the great doubts of families and teachers.. Sometimes the group becomes aware of the problem and shows solidarity, although there is always the danger that the damage will be greater.. The detainee, for example, had not communicated this, so in class, after what happened, they simply described him as a “lonely” person.. “The school downplayed it and said that it did not have enough teachers to control everything,” says this mother, who found out about the attacks on her son through a tip from a classmate.. “The detainee is treated as an aggressor, but that is not. “Any person in an extreme situation would act like this,” he adds..

Although there is no official data on the real extent, a study carried out in the USA in 2002 placed the percentage of children and young people with this disorder who suffer bullying at up to 90%.. They are “the easy target”: lonely and with difficulties integrating, many end up dropping out due to the anxiety they experience during school.. A more recent investigation by Autismo España reveals that 12.4% of autistic students have acknowledged having suffered bullying at least once. Another report from the Anar Foundation, which manages the bullying telephone number, offers the reasons for the attacks: in 14.6% it was due to disability; 17% due to their psychological problems; and 53.6% for the things that the Asperger's person does or says.

In any case, it is inevitable that families see through the eyes of their children the case of the Elena García Armada institute, where the worst outcome occurred.. Amanda – fictitious name, to protect her identity – is the mother of another Jerez student who, at 15 years old, has already attempted suicide.. Bring to the interview evidence of harassment and recordings of a student who reported to the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office. “From then on, all his teammates turned against him. “I see that boy and I know that he had two options: commit suicide or attack the people who hurt him,” he adds..

The Andalusian Government has asked for “caution” when assessing whether the detainee had suffered harassment and whether the protocols worked correctly.. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education has insisted that it will be necessary to assess whether the insults in the previous days were a specific issue or repeated over time, something fundamental in the current regulations to determine whether or not there was bullying.. From the Asperger TEA association of Jerez they ask to apply a different treatment with Asperger's, who face the conflict in a very different way from the rest of the students, and to open protocols at the first sign. “The majority suffer great anxiety in the academic context,” says the psychologist, who understands the difficulties of teachers in perceiving details in large groups.. After the incident, the Jerez institute investigates what happened.