Harford County provides many services for those with disabilities; it’s a “collaborative effort involving schools, families and community agencies working together to ensure a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to all children with disabilities, birth through age 21,”  according hcps.org. 

    These programs “seek to improve the performance of all children with disabilities and assist in narrowing achievement gaps by ensuring equal access to curriculum and differentiated instruction in the least restrictive environment,” hcps.org claims.   

      Children with disabilities struggle in schools not just academically, but socially.  Specialalliance.org says, “Children with disabilities are both more likely to be bullied or harassed and also more likely to be seriously harmed by it. In addition, children with disabilities may be less likely to be able to seek help to stop it.” Children are given the academic help that they need with the school systems, but the school systems often fail when it comes to the emotional and social aspect of children. 

    The statistics of kids being bullied is staggering.“94% [of parents surveyed] admitted that there had been multiple incidents of bullying. Not only was the bullying extensive, but it seems from the survey that nowhere in school is it safe for a child with disabilities,” says angelsense.com. This is wrong for a multitude of different reasons. These children already face mountains of struggles other students don’t have to. Now they have additional hurdles to overcome. 

     The amount of bullying isn’t always the same. “When assessing specific types of disabilities, prevalence rates differ: 35.3% of students with behavioral and emotional disorders, 33.9% of students with autism, 24.3% of students with intellectual disabilities, 20.8% of students with health impairments, and 19% of students with specific learning disabilities face high levels of bullying victimization,” says stompoutbullying.org. These differences between the majority of students and the number of people with disabilities  has caused a divide within schools. 

      Schools provide for the educational advancement of disabled  children, and while they claim that they prevent the bullying of students, bullying still persists within the Harford County Public School system and plenty of others around the country.

     Schools need to hold people accountable when bullying is happening  and offer more consequences when it is reported. The system that is in place isn’t working enough, considering large numbers of kids still are being bullied in school buildings.