Did you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month in the US? Sad, really, that as a nation we have such a problem with bullying we have to designate one month a year as “prevention month.” The bottom line is that prevention needs to be occurring every single month, but if one month each year more people are focused on making that happen due to a distinction like this, I’ll take it; after all it gives me an excuse to share some tremendous resources on the topic.
Last spring I shared an interview series about bullying with Dr. Lisa Elliot called “Bullying is a BIG Deal.” Click to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Plus, we got such great responses to the series that Dr. Elliott agreed to address the topic of Adults Who Bully after it was brought up in the comments section by one of our readers. Very important because it isn’t always kids bullying kids we need to worry about in this world. Sadly, sometimes the bullies are indeed grownups who should know better.

If you missed it in the news over the weekend, a senior who lives with an Autism Spectrum Disorder at Celebration High School in Florida, was named Prom King. This was not a “special” Prom; it was the school’s annual Prom for all juniors and seniors.
This is the kind of news that inspires people.
It inspires parents like me…I long for Ethan to be accepted, understood and appreciated by his typical peers. I can only imagine the elation Shane’s mother must have felt hearing the student body chant Shane’s name just before the announcement was made.
It inspires educators…when inclusive education is done well – everyone benefits. Shane’s peers voted for HIM; they didn’t have to – they chose to! Acceptance and understanding in schools, especially Middle and High schools, starts with the teachers. They are the ultimate role models for how students treat their peers.

Have you ever learned a new word and then suddenly discovered that it seemed to be everywhere? It was always there, but you just never noticed it. It’s the same with autism too, I think. Recently, I’ve started noticing autistic tendencies in people that I never had before. Some of the people who I had previously thought were simply quirky now seem to me to be undiagnosed members of the spectrum.