Parents of Autistic Student Sue School District Over Bullying

The parents of an autistic student have sued their son "John"'s former school district for $1.5 million, accusing the school of complicity in John's bullying.  John, who does not want his full name released and who is identified in the lawsuit as J.B.M., went to Showalter Middle School in Tukwila, Washington.  As a student there, he faced not only physical abuse but mental abuse at the hands of his fellow students: in the lawsuit, he claims he faced constant abuse in the sixth and seventh grades, and John dealt with severe depression and suicidal thoughts as a result. 

Although his mother, identified as "Peggy" in the lawsuit, worked as a special education instructional assistant at the school while John was a student there, John was not allowed to contact her during school hours.  When John and Peggy both reported the bullying to school officials, Peggy alleges the school told John to "stick up for himself" but took no action against the bullies.  John, however, was punished for yelling at the bullies and using "inappropriate language" against them.  When the district assigned someone to observe John through the day, the observer was only rarely present during instances of bullying, and it took a full-blown attack on John to convince the district to let him enroll in a private program.

The school John transferred to only offered classes through tenth grade, however, and when he refused to go to Foster High School with the people who had bullied him at Showalter, the Tukwila School District filed a truancy action against him.  When John enrolled at a private academy and a marine biology program, the school continued to object to John's absence from Foster.

Yvonne Kinoshita Ward, the family's attorney, has stated that forcing John to go to Foster High School was an act of "reckless indifference" and "a total abdication of their duty to protect children."  She states that while John is now twenty years old and a student at a local community college, he still deals with depression, an anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder due to his experiences with the school district.  While many children would be able to cope with the level of abuse John faced, John is unable to cope fully with the way he was treated because of his autism spectrum disorder and that while he thrived in elementary school, his treatment now makes him unable to live independently and has instilled in him a fear of other people.

The school district's administration has not commented on John's case specifically because the case now involves legal action, but a representative of the district states that "we feel that we've got the best safeguards here for all of our students."

Related: New Jersey ponders merits of mandatory autism registry; Autistic Girl Scout labeled a "danger to others," removed from her troop; Parents of autistic children may risk reaching a "breaking point," says Denver Post