Aspies For Freedom

Sue your school for failing to protect you against bullying!


This is how it works:


£20,000 for woman bullied at primary school 12 years ago
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...xhome.html


£20,000 for woman who was bullied as a pupil
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,...55,00.html



Twelve years later, a pupil tormented by primary school bullies gets £20,000
http://education.guardian.co.uk/pupilbeh...62,00.html


SOPHIE'S £20K FOR SCHOOL BULLYING
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid..._page.html


£20k payout 19 years on
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006080370,00.html


Council pays out £20,000 over school bullying
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/...?gusrc=rss

The problem with these types of law suits is that the insurance companies make the payments not the people doing the bullying.  It would be better to educate people about how wrong bullying is and get programmes to train teachers and school officials on how to handle situations of bullying.  

If insurance costs rise because of law suits like this, schools will try to refuse students with AS because they are usually bullied.  I think this type of sueing after 19 years is very so retrospective and stupid.

Believe it or not, some schools will actively refuse to do anything about bullying simply due to their "anti-bullying policy".

SOJAW wrote:
"When an adult gets harrassed on a regular basis in a workplace environment, they are called a victim, and it's considered grounds for a large lawsuit. If we don't expect a 30 year old to put up with it at work, why do we expect a 10 year old child to just "learn to live with it?"

I agree SOJAW, bullying is harassment and no adult or child should have to tolerate that kind of abuse. I would never and will never force my children to learn in such an environment. I have pulled my kids out of one school because of that particular school's tolerance for bullying.

That is true. In the first school that I enrolled my children at there was a little girl who bullied all the children in her class, but most expecially it seemed she bullied my daughter. I complained and found out the school's policy was based on this ridiculous theory that the victim must become hardened so that they are no longer effected emotionally by such bullying. Of course the school did not put it in those words, they said, instead that it was school policy to work with the victim of the bullying to get that victim to a point where bullying no longer caused any emotional disturbance.

I went ballistic on that one. When it became apparent that nothing was to be done I pulled my kids out of that school and we have never had to endure such bad treatment in the educational system again.

Parents and students should be doing something about bullying that is taking place right now not waiting 20 years for a law suit.

Document every incidence, its report and the response of the school officials.  If the response is not satisfactory, then go to the next level.    This is what is recommended in workplaces and it should be dealt with the same way in schools.

Why is it that if an adult assaults another adult, it is a chargeable offence, but when a child/teenager does it to another child/teenager, it's just ignored?

Alison :mad:

Complaining to the school at any level would probably have been useless.  The school is never going to be willing to deal with such a problem.
They must have known what was happening , especially after the girl needed stiches, and decided to do nothing.the only way to get their attention is to sue and make a public scandel.

Hmm, in the years after being bullied I thought I'd weathered it quite well, it wasn't until a good 6 or 7 years after I realised just how badly it had effected me (seemingly irreversably) - total distrust of anyone even remotely my age, failiure to achieve any qualifications of worth and lack of trust in humanity nor qualifications to complete higher education, had been "gifted" at art, but stopped doing it for close to a decade because of total loss of confidence in it - when I could've been getting higher degrees in it and high paying work from the talent.

The effects of bullying are felt hardest years later when you can stand back and see how your life's path was changed for the worse. I'm not likely to sue anyone though, I've already worked out the damage caused back then was irreversable and I'm pretty much a lost cause now.

So sueing someone will take years and you will get a lump sum of money and most of it will go to pay lawyers.   All the while you will be feeling all the pain and anger and reliving all that.

I cannot forget all the bad experiences I have had and I know they affect me now today but I just cannot keep thinking about it.  I am not sure that a sum of money would help me.  Revenge does not motivate me.  I am not sure seeing others suffer for what they did to me will be all that good.  I have had people apologize to me after saying they saw some documentary on autism.    As for thinking that my efforts might help some other person in the future, preventing them from feeling the same pain, I really doubt it.   But that might be the only reason to motivate me to do anything - but really a lawsuit is just mostly in self-interest.  If I wanted to educate people about autism, there must be more positive ways to do it than lawsuits.

i was bullied quite a bit, but my mom made sure it was never taken to an extreme measure.  but i think it had its effect...i get angred easliy if someone tries to pull a prank and think that they are mean people, and it usually takes a while to trust people my own age...but i can trust older people a bit easier...just has that look of maturity in them...

If you don't want to be bullied then try to make yourself an unrewarding target for that kind of person. Bullies sometimes target specific people because of their personal characteristics (a person who is very serious or easily angered and is therefore fun to tease, or a person who is unlikely to mount any effective retalliation). The best insurance against bullying is having friends around for protection.

I don't think there is any moral argument to stop a victim of bullying retalliating with the same level of unpleasantness received, but it is a good idea to follow any official school rules or work policies that direct the victim to report the offence rather than take revenge themself. I can't think of a single reason why anyone who can make a buck out of suing shouldn't sue, unless they risk losing the case and having to pay lots of legal bills. The people who manage schools, universities and workplaces have a duty to make those places as safe and fair for everyone as possible. If they are negligent in this duty, sue!

If there isn't much that you can do to get revenge against someone, you can still tell your story to anyone who is interested. It's a small world, and gossip travels fast. You might discover that there are others who are victims of the bully, as most bullies are serial offenders. Celebrity and high-profile bullies might be protected from exposure by the media by our stupid defamation laws, but word of mouth is a huge network, and I have heard quite a few separate stories about one Australian celebrity bully (who lost his job recently). If I get treated unpleasantly by anyone while they are acting in a paid job, I tell everyone, and I also say which company or organisation they work for. It's the least I can do. :wink:

Hrrm.. That isn't really true. Once a nickname has been made, it never goes away, even if you do change how you act.. At high school it lasted for three years.. Now even at college it has already started. I can just see myself lashing out very badly some day soon - probably at someone who doesn't actually deserve it.

Also true what was said earlier in the topic, why is it assault when you are an adult; but when your a child they don't give a damn and just ignore you.

Some of the problem with bullying is that most of the time when it is happening, I do not know I am being bullied.

Much as I usually don't condone violence, sometimes the only thing to make bullies back off is if their victim gives them a good hiding.

Here's the problem: if you left the school 20 years ago, the only people suffering from that payout would be current students who have nothing to do with the bullies.