In Their Own Words: Perceptions and Experiences of Bullying Among Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Adults with IDD describe bullying more broadly than textbooks—ask them directly and use their words in your assessment.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team talked with the adults who have intellectual or developmental disabilities.
They asked open questions like "Tell me about a time you felt bullied."
Each interview lasted about one hour and was recorded word for word.
What they found
The adults said bullying is more than hitting or name-calling.
They counted being ignored, left out, or laughed at as bullying too.
Some events did not fit the school-book definition, yet still hurt.
How this fits with other research
Aguilar-Mediavilla et al. (2024) saw the opposite pattern in kids. Children with language disorders often miss reporting their own bullying; peers point it out instead.
van Schalkwyk et al. (2018) found half of high-functioning teens with ASD self-reported bullying. Together these studies show age and diagnosis change who speaks up.
The new adult voices widen the lens: when clinicians rely only on standard checklists, they may overlook the pain adults with IDD feel inside.
Why it matters
If you only use boxed questionnaires, you can miss half the story. Ask adults with IDD to talk in their own words. Add a simple open prompt like "Has anyone made you feel small lately?" and listen. Their wider definition can guide better safety plans, staff training, and goal writing in day programs.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite the high incidence of bullying among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), little research has been conducted with people with IDD as participants reporting their own perceptions and experiences of bullying. To address this shortcoming, we interviewed 18 adults with IDD regarding these issues. Four major themes emerged from our qualitative analysis of the transcribed interviews: (a) bullying is hurtful, (b) why people bully, (c) bullying takes many forms, and (d) bullying can happen anywhere. Though participants' definitions of bullying and explanations for why people bully aligned well with traditional understandings, several reported incidents of bullying were discrepant from the traditional definition, including incidents of abuse and rude behavior. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-57.1.66