This year is the 15^th Anniversary of Anti bullying week and the theme is ‘let’s stop bullying for all’.  The focus is on children and young people who have a disability and/or special educational needs who are bullied at school.

Youngminds (http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_children_young_people/whats_worrying_you/bullying) describes bullying as someone hurting someone either physically, by hitting or kicking, or verbally by calling them names or teasing them.

The Anti-bullying Alliance (www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk) define it as repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

Bullying can be done in a number of ways – directly, such as face to face; online – such as through social media, via text messages or indirectly such as spreading nasty rumours or excluding someone from friendship groups.

Disabled children may also experience forms of bullying like:

• manipulative bullying: where a person is controlling someone
• conditional friendship: where a child thinks someone is being their friend but times of friendliness are alternated with times of bullying
• exploitative bullying: where features of a child’s condition are used to bully them.

The general consensus is that your child should not ignore bullying and that they should talk to someone, be it family, a teacher or a mentor.  If bullying is going on at school, the school should operate an anti-bullying policy.

The Law

Some forms of bullying are illegal. These include:

• violence or assault
• theft
• repeated harassment or intimidation, eg name calling, threats and abusive phone calls, emails or text messages
• hate crimes

www.gov.uk recommend that you report any incidence of bullying by school peers to your child’s school in the first instance and they can involve the police as necessary under the legal requirements.  You can also report bullying direct to the police.  If you’re reporting cyberbullying, keep a record of the date and time of the calls, emails or texts – don’t delete any messages you receive.

Information and support

The Anti-bullying Alliance (http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/send-programme/) have an information hub about reducing the bullying of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

BullyingUK have a wide range of information and resources, including videos, on their website: http://www.bullying.co.uk/anti-bullying-week/anti-bullying-week-2014/.

They are also running a national bullying survey to provide them with in-depth information on bullying and how it affects children, young people, parents, carers and teachers.

Contact a Family have a guide to Dealing With Bullying – for families with disabled children on their website at: http://www.cafamily.org.uk/media/793674/dealing_with_bullying.pdf.

Beatbullying (www.beatbullying.org) offers online information and practical advice on dealing with bullying for children and young people, parents and professionals.

UK Safer Internet Centre – Helpline: 0844 381 4772  www.saferinternet.org.uk – provide information and resources on internet safety, and responsible use of technology for parents, teachers and children.

Newsround have produced a guide to bullying for children – it uses role play video and voice overs to help children think about what bullying is, what might cause people to do it and the effect on victims.  Please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqgbgk7#z2crcdm to find out more.

Local Parent Partnership Services (PPS) offer advice and support to parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs. They are statutory services which means there must be one in every local authority.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes Mellitus is a condition where the amount of glucose in your blood is too high because your body cannot use it properly as fuel.  The blood that courses around our bodies, via our arteries carries lots of nutrients (including glucose) to our organs, muscles and cells. A hormone called insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, helps us to absorb the glucose from our blood into our cells, where it provides energy for our muscles / body.  A lack of insulin means that instead of the glucose being absorbed into the body’s cells, it builds up in the blood.

There are two types of Diabetes Mellitus:

Type 1 – no insulin is produced.

Type 2 – not enough insulin is produced, or the insulin that is produced is not working properly.

(Another type called gestational diabetes can also occur in some pregnant women.  For more information about this type please visit Diabetes UK.)

Type 1 diabetes

This accounts for around 10% of all adults with diabetes (source: Diabetes UK website).  It can develop at any age, but usually appears before the age of 40, and especially in childhood.  It is treated by daily insulin injections, a healthy diet and regular exercise / activity.

Type 2 diabetes

This usually appears in people over the age of 40.  Some of the risks of developing type 2 diabetes are:

• You’re aged over 40 years (over 25 yrs if you are of South Asian origin)
• You have a close family member with diabetes (parent, sibling)
• You’re overweight or obese
• You’re of South Asian, Chinese, African-Caribbean or black African origin
• You’ve ever had a heart attack or stroke or you have cardiovascular disease.

(For more details about type 2 diabetes and risk factors please visit the NHS website.)

Signs and symptoms

Diabetes can cause a variety of symptoms. The main symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes include:

• urinating frequently, particularly at night
• feeling very thirsty
• feeling very tired
• unexplained weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
• itching of the genitals or frequent episodes of thrush
• cuts and wounds that heal slowly
• blurred vision

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes may not be so obvious, because the condition usually develops slowly over a number of years. It may only be picked up during a routine medical check-up.

 Treatment

Type 1 – requires insulin injections and a healthy diet and regular physical activity.

Type 2 – can be controlled by making healthy changes to your lifestyle, such as diet and exercise.  However, as it is a progressive condition, you may eventually need to take medication.

It is important to have diabetes diagnosed as early as possible as diabetes is a lifelong condition that gets progressively worse if not managed properly.  It can also cause other complications such as cardiovascular disease, kidney dysfunction and visual impairment.

This year’s World Diabetes Day theme

This year’s theme is about health eating.  

• Investing in a healthy breakfast will reduce the global burden of diabetes and save billions in lost productivity and healthcare costs.  
• Read why
• Ensuring access to an affordable and healthy breakfast is essential to reducing the global burden of diabetes. Read why
• Healthy eating options that can help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. Click here
• Healthy and unhealthy breakfast options. Click here

For further information and support you can contact the following organisations:

International Diabetes Federation – http://www.idf.org

Diabetes UK – www.diabetes.org.uk they provide a helpline, information roadshows, self-management training and local support groups.  They have areas of their website dedicated to young people with diabetes.

Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation – www.drwf.org.uk fund research into diabetes and raise awareness about the condition.  They have a page for parents and carers.

NHS choices – www.nhs.uk this website provides in depth information about a range of health conditions, including diabetes.