RNIB's survey, 'Shaping the Future' - on the experiences of blind and partially sighted children and young people in the UK - includes some thoughts on bullying. Changing other people's attitudes came high on the list of things that would improve your life.

Some children may feel nervous the first time they meet a child who is blind or partially sighted, because it might be the first time they've met anyone with a disability. They might not know what to say. They might feel awkward or embarrassed. Bullying might be a bad reaction to something they don't understand or feel comfortable with. Remember, not everyone will feel like that towards you. Educating the bullies can be one way of making them stop, as this example from the survey shows:

'When K lost her eye … she spent the whole Reception term being bullied. The school couldn't seem to prevent it. Then in Year 1 she had an idea: she took her collection of artificial eyes into school. She let the children look at them and feel them, and told the children in her own words how her natural eye was making her very ill … The bullying stopped after this.'
Parent of a six year old girl.

This is just one example; there are other reasons why people bully and other ways to try to stop bullying. The RNIB survey also shows that:

	half of the parents of primary school children believe their child has been bullied
	nearly three in five secondary pupils and students in further and higher education say that they had been bullied at some time
	bullying goes on in mainstream and all types of special schools and more often in sixth forms than further and higher education

No one deserves to be bullied.

Nearly everyone is bullied at some time in their lives: by brothers or sisters, neighbours, adults or other children. It can be carried out by an individual, group, or, in some cases, a teacher. If you are being bullied, you may feel scared, vulnerable and quite alone, but you owe it to yourself to try to stop the bullying. Remember, no-one deserves to be bullied. However, bullying isn't always deliberate and bullies are not always aware of the pain and upset they cause.

We are all different. Some people are tall, some are short. We all have different hair colour and different colour eyes. Some people might get picked on because they are seen as 'different'. It could be the colour of their skin or because of a disability like being blind or partially sighted - or because they seem cleverer than others.

What's it like being bullied?

Bullying hurts. It can make you feel scared and upset. It can make you too scared to want to go to school. It can make you feel like there is something wrong with you and that you deserve to be bullied. (Remember, no one deserves to be bullied.)

Sometimes, it is difficult even to realise that you may be being bullied. You may try not to think about it, or feel you can ignore behaviour that is making you uncomfortable. Here are some possible signs of bullying. Does any of this sound familiar to you?

	Are you frightened of walking to school and back alone?
	Do you dread going to school each day?
	Do you feel ill in the mornings because you're scared to go to school?
	Do you sometimes not go to school?
	Is your school work beginning to suffer?
	Are you coming home from school with damaged clothes or books?
	Are you coming home hungry (is someone taking your dinner money)?
	Are you becoming withdrawn - not talking to other people much?
	Are you having nightmares?
	Has some of your stuff gone missing?
	Do you find it hard to talk about what is wrong?
	Are you finding it difficult to explain why you may have cuts and bruises?
	Are you beginning to bully other children?
	Do you feel that you're becoming angry or unreasonable for no particular reason?
	Are you falling out with your friends and family?
	Are you being picked on continually about wearing glasses or about your sight problem?
	Do other children hide your things because they know you can't see very well and therefore won't find them?

If bullying goes on for a long time it can make you feel:

Why do bullies do it?
Although lots of bullies may seem very confident they might not be. Something may have happened to them to make them bully.

	Maybe they get bullied by someone at home
	Maybe they get bullied by other children
	Maybe they're scared of getting picked on so they do it first
	Maybe they feel like they don't fit in
	Maybe they don't like themselves very much
	Maybe they want to make themselves look tough
	Maybe they think it's OK to hurt other people
	Maybe they bully for none of these reasons