Omar Saed

As local studies show on school students, a Widespread of the phenomenon of bullying spreads over the Gaza strip community like ants. in light of the high population density along this narrow geographical strip "Gaza Strip"

Among the number of school students, which includes nearly 1000 student per school distributed over a maximum of 20 classes, people with disabilities are confronted with bullying in schools on an almost daily basis.

Thus, bullying may lead to considerable consequences on their academic performance and commitment in school since some of them refuse to complete their education, mainly due to bullying, lack of awareness beside the lack precautions of transportation for persons with disabilities. Therefore, bullying become a constantly Nightmare for disabled people.

Heba abu watfaa, one of the bully- victims, had an accident while crossing the street three years ago. Unfortunately, she was unable to walk at the age of 14. it gets worse as her daily safety has been connected with her wheelchair.

Heba, a student in eleventh grade said " I heard hurtful words from my best friends while talking about my passion toward fashion and become a fashion designer. They were making fun of me by saying " Walk properly as people then achieve your dreams ".

One of the reasons that Heba isolated herself was the verbal abuse. she continued, "I couldn't be able to trust myself and my abilities anymore due to mockery".

She has also explained that bullying after living with disability was very harmful and has a great impact on her. Moreover, she was not feeling active or ambitious that led to her decreased performance in school.

She continued," I had to neglect whoever underestimated me to overcome this harmful impact just because I'm different 'special'. Heba's advice to disabled people is to disregard people's hard words and to believe themselves "Brave ones can get over it all" as she declared.

By the end of 2020, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) released a Statistic indicates that 10% of children with disabilities aged between 5-17 years old aren't enrolled in education while females report higher incidents of disability than males Within the various of age stages. Additionally, the percentage of disabilities was about 15% among children in the age group (5-17 years). about 17% in the West Bank and about 13% in Gaza Strip.

By contrast, Ramadan who opened his eyes to the life, has a motor impairment in the hand and facial muscles. He explained how he was a bully-victim until he became 17. "Indeed, I was met with ridicule while showing their fake kindness ".

As he expresses his suffering from bullying:" my classmates were avoiding me so I was feeling lonely, I didn't have friends especially at secondary school, yet in real life I have only one or two".

 key findings:

Feeling lonely, lack of confidence and decreased school performance are the consequences of being exposed to bullying, as Ramdan said.

Ramdan was not aware enough about bullying; however, he believed that apathy is the solution for bullying.

Roida, the educational counselor affirms that disabled people suffer the most from bullying in academic institutions.

As kamel 27 years ago said " Bullying in school is a significant problem besides it's the most common antisocial behaviors as it’s a small community within a large one".

She added, most of disabled people who have trust issues with people surrounding don't head for a psychologist when being bullied. Believing that they wouldn't take them seriously or because of the lack of self-confidence.   

Bullying at schools has negatively affected students. As she said: Bullying involvement may have an adverse effect on children's educational outcomes. Beyond education, disordered behaviors and isolation are also bullying outcomes.

The psychologist mentioned with concern one of the main results when someone with disability is being bullied or abused, they may try to reciprocate others in turn and it will lead to acquire bullying as an inherent attitude considering it as self-defense.

Hence, as a consequence of previous results. We give them special care in order to overcome these challenges by creating a warm, comfortable environment therefore it can be helpful for them to feel free about sharing their feelings and problems with others, building trust with students, as well as I make sure to keep everything private and secret between students, academic staff even away from my personal life, Roida explained.

Moreover, I make sure to follow up their performance and evaluate their Class Participation as well their grades in order to motivate them to raise their academic level. Making community inclusion for persons with disabilities a priority through set up an annual guidance plan involves individually all students with disabilities in order to track their behaviors and educational achievements, as well as raise their awareness about integrate in the community by guiding Seminars too.

School counselor advised families who have person with disability to integrate them in the household tasks aimed at enhancing their self-esteem and giving them positivity through being an active member and enabling them to have a real achievement by creating a better life condition and facilitate their daily life requirements.