Participants’ accounts revealed that the effects of bullying were both immediate and lasting, shaping emotional, psychological, and social trajectories. These impacts influenced how participants navigated school environments, related to peers, and began to understand themselves.

Immediate Impacts

Participants described bullying as emotionally overwhelming, leaving them feeling isolated, exhausted, and distressed. These responses emerged during active bullying experiences and shaped how participants navigated social interactions and school environments in the moment. One participant recounted how bullying contributed to anticipatory anxiety:

Since I didn’t want to talk, they also don’t want to be friends with me… I mean I wanted to talk to them but I didn’t know how to actually initiate that first step. Maybe they’ll laugh at me. So a lot of negative thoughts or anxiety was in me. (A04, with selective mutism)

This anxiety functioned as a protective response, where participants withdrew socially to avoid ridicule or rejection. However, it also reinforced isolation. Another participant reflected on how they suppressed their needs in order to prioritize social acceptance:

If I go out cycling with my friends, my stamina isn’t as good or I get pains more often, I would just bear with it and not say anything, because I was embarrassed. (A22, with systemic lupus)

Together, these accounts demonstrate how bullying produced immediate psychological impacts that shaped participants’ emotional regulation, help seeking behaviours, and social participation.

Short-Term Impacts

Ongoing bullying reshaped participants’ relationship with themselves and their school environments. Rather than experiencing school environments as spaces of belonging and growth, they experienced school as a site of emotional exhaustion and isolation. Several participants described how persistent victimization contributed to disengagement from school.

When I was going through PSLE as well, it took a toll on my mental health. I didn’t want to go to school. I remember begging my mom I didn’t want to go to school. (A11, with arthritis)

Importantly, the emotional and psychological toll of bullying had also led to suicidal ideation among some of the participants.

There were number of times where I got to a point where I wanted to commit suicide you know because it got so bad. Uhm and there was like nobody I could turn. Uhm but I really don’t know what how I pulled through during that period. It was quite a dark period. (A12, with ADHD)

These narratives illuminate the profound emotional consequences bullying has on YPWDs, demonstrating how sustained peer victimization can undermine wellbeing and disrupt educational participation.

Long-Term Impacts

Bullying had enduring impacts beyond schooling years. Although bullying was framed as childhood experiences by our participants, its psychological and social consequences continued to shape adult lives. Participants described internalizing messages of inadequacy, influencing their abilities, worth, and social desirability.

I had very severely bad self-esteem, even up to my early 30s. (A14, permanent knee injury)

Others reflected how bullying influenced their willingness to form relationships and pursue opportunities later in life.

It does affect my overall self-esteem… where I don’t want to put myself out there or be too close to someone else. Because I feel that they may use this against me… the episodes repeat again. (A12)

I am very guarded and wary of new people… because I know I’m in a very powerless position. I don’t want to put myself through what I went through before. (A03, with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy)

These accounts highlight how bullying shapes emotional wellbeing and long-term participation in social, educational, and professional spaces. Bullying experiences can have ripple effects across multiple life domains.

Resistance, Reframing, and Resilience

It’s equally important to highlight that participants did not only speak about the harm caused by bullying; they also described ongoing processes of resistance, reframing, and personal growth. Through these efforts, they shifted from internalizing negative societal perceptions of disability to actively challenging them. One participant shared how her childhood experiences fostered greater empathy and intentional emotional regulation:

I become more understanding of people with special needs. Sort of become more sensitive to um, because I still remember how my childhood actually evolved. So I sort of become more sensitive to children or youth for that matter, especially children. Then it becomes a very conscious effort…when I slip into negative emotions, that I can actually swap to positive. It is really up to me. I keep motivating myself that since I can overcome so many trials when I was younger, nothing could be more difficult now. (A02, with dyslexia)

Another participant reflected on how external validation and supportive relationships played a role in shaping their self-perceptions:

I think it’s because I realised that there’s some purpose that I can do. To me it’s having those opportunities to start giving and start doing and realising and finding the skills and strengths that I have. But it also starts from people around me that there’s something inside that they see that I don’t see about myself. That really helps and then it starts a positive reinforcement cycle. (A05, with cerebral palsy)

Resilience was also expressed through assertiveness and self-advocacy.

At the end of day, it is strength of mind like I’m stronger than them because I’m honest about my condition, I’m aware of it and if I’m aware of it means I know what to do so don’t mess with me. (A20, with ADHD)

Importantly, participants’ accounts suggest that resilience was not a linear or uniform process, nor did it erase the impacts of bullying. Instead, resilience emerged as process shaped by self-reflection and supportive relationships. These narratives highlight how YPWDs actively negotiate stigma, demonstrating agency in (re)defining their identities.