Bullying of learners living with disabilities: Fears of reporting bullying incidents

Khutso Chiloane; Tumelo Sekgobela; Budeli Nngodiseni  Jimmy

doi:10.36096/ijbes.v6i6.600

Authors

Khutso Chiloane
Tumelo Sekgobela University of Venda https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6579-1045
Budeli Nngodiseni Jimmy University of Venda, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1059-7643

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36096/ijbes.v6i6.600

Keywords:

Bullying, disabilities, fears, incidents, school

Abstract

Bullying is the aggression, violence, and threats that are targeted at the victims who are perceived to be weak. Learners living with disabilities are not immune to the phenomenon of bullying. Due to their vulnerability, they are targeted by bullies within the learning environment. Learners living with disabilities are targeted physically, emotionally, and through the use of technology. Learners fear reporting incidents of bullying because of the lack of action and consequences for the perpetrators of bullying. There is a huge increase in bullying incidents at schools against learners living with disabilities because of the inability to report the violence and harassment caused by the perpetrators to the victims of bullying. The learners living with disabilities are being taken advantage of by the perpetrators because of the fear of reporting violent behaviour to the teachers at school. The study applied the qualitative research method to explain the fears and inability to report bullying incidents by learners living with disabilities. Snowball sampling was used to select the study population within different schools, with a sample of about 11 learners considered. An exploratory research design was adopted in this study to explore the challenges experienced by the victims of bullying with regard to the fears of reporting bullying incidents. The study has adopted the interview as an instrument for collecting data. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the information collected from the learners living with disabilities. The study has observed the ethical considerations to ensure respect for the rights of the participants and universal observations for studies that involve human beings.

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