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Last night, the N.C.House passed the Bullying Bill, SB 526 /HB 548: School Violence Prevention Act, by a one vote margin. Since the bill was already passed by the Senate, the bill now moves to the Governor for her signature.

Our state legislators stood up and voted on what is right for all students, especially the all too many children living with autism who are bullied in school.

Once we assemble the list of  House members who voted for the bill, we will let you know the House members we need to recognize and thank.

This victory would not have been possible without your advocacy efforts that combined with years of tireless work by self advocates, students, parents and the larger coalition to make this a reality.

Yesterday, the autism community was well represented when  ASNC parent advocate, Linda Griffin, spoke out with honesty and courage about the need for the bullying bill in a News 14 interview. To view this interview, click here: http://www.news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=611092

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who advocated for the passage of a strong and effective Bullying Bill.

Our next challenge is to decide how we can work together with our schools to take this mandate for bullying prevention and see that it is implemented at the local school level.

Ultimately preventing bullying requires that we change minds and hearts in our local schools.

Once  this legislative session is over, ASNC staff would like to join with self advocates, parents, chapters, school personnel and other advocacy partners to define some specific bullying prevention initiatives we believe will make a difference for  all students, especially those with autism and other developmental disabilities .

If you are interested in being contacted about  bullying prevention work groups, please email mmorrell@autismsociety-nc.org

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